


Political Gainzzzzz ᕙ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ᕗ

by Forever_Tank, TheTruthHertz



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ball, Collaboration, Commando - Freeform, Completed, Contracts, F/F, First Meetings, Garnet in a dress, Human AU, Mastubation: The Return of the Nut, Masturbation, Mercenary Garnet, Pearl gives Garnet a taste of her own medicine, Pearl's hot and bothered, Political Debates, Politician Pearl, Random security guards - Freeform, Running for senate, Sexual inuendos, Swearing, Teasing, The Dark web, assassination attempt, butter statues, election, ending, fancy clothing, haggling, mild sexual harrasment, phone banter, planning, public outcry, scoping the area, taking out the competition, video editing, winning, work outs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-04-25 18:12:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14384241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Forever_Tank/pseuds/Forever_Tank, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTruthHertz/pseuds/TheTruthHertz
Summary: It's a tough race to for the senate seat as Pearl Coleman battles off against her competitor Susannah Chutz.  Perhaps a little too tough.  Ever the resourceful woman, Pearl seeks out to hire someone who can help her ensure her win in the upcoming election.  Who better than the former marine, turned hitwoman, Garnet Wilson?





	1. A Meeting of Shady Characters

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the collab Forever_Tank and I have been working on for the past few months in relative secrecy! This will get weekly updates until its completion. We hope you enjoy this fic and get a good laugh or two. Beware of The Butter Fiend...

            Coffee was sipped at only to draw out a disgusted frown when the fair-skinned, thin woman realized that it had chilled while she had been researching on the computer.  In the background a TV played a rerun of the political debate that had happened the night prior. On the screen two female representative candidates battled back and forth, both for the democratic party, and both trying to be elected into the one open spot in the senate. Reaching down to the glass coffee table, the skinny woman snatched her remote up and muted the TV. It was distracting her and she already knew who was saying what.  A frown pulled at the corner of her lips, eyes catching a particularly disliked part of the debate coming up. Her own face was mirrored in one of the democratic candidates on the screen as she countered the accusations presented by her opponent. With a huff Pearl focused on her laptop sitting on her thighs. She had handled the accusations simply by dismissing them as too absurd to be legitimate, a temporary solution, she needed to find a more permanent one if she was going to win this upcoming election.

            Quick fingers typed in passwords and clicked on programs, endless protocols that she had spent hours researching and installing when this option had been considered the first time. Pearl opened one of the programs, double-checked that she wasn’t being traced, and began to type.

            Being in the government came with perks, though sometimes not honestly earned. Hours of boredom in her office led to the thin woman researching federal databases, and within those databases she found planted traps made by the government in this so-called ‘Dark Web’.  These traps were designed to ensnare those who would be engaging in less than savory business on the Dark Web. Hours were spent memorizing the names of these various planted websites, thus keeping her from falling into such traps. Encryptions were deciphered and converted into addresses; addresses that then were looked at and blacklisted until Pearl came across one she had not found logged in a database.

            With a self-satisfied smirk, the woman with short, red hair entered the link into the search bar, pressed the enter button, and waited.  First the background loaded, a typical grey, then frames where pieces of the website were stored appeared. Next came an unwanted ad, thankfully this one didn’t have audio attached to it, then the top area filled in with the website’s name and logo. Seemingly everything had loaded except for the one thing needed to operate the website: the navigation bar.  The pale woman rubbed her temples as light grey eyes watched another minute tick by on the digital clock in the corner of her laptop’s screen. Finally the navigation bar was up and she was free to contact who she needed to. The feature had only two options: ‘Order’ and ‘Contact’. Pearl hovered her mouse cursor over the contact link before clicking.

            She was brought to a chat box, with one message at the very top of it.

_             You are now speaking with ‘MdeOfLve’ _

            “What?!” came the audible exclamation, “What kind of name is that for someone on here?”  

            Was this even the right site? It seemed almost a parody. Frowning, Pearl clicked the chat box and typed her message.

_             Guest01079- Hello? _

            Seconds ticked by as her greeting sat there unanswered on the screen.  A frustrated sigh was pushed past thin lips. Eyes flickered over at the taskbar, making sure that the location service icon hadn’t popped up warning her that she had loaded a trapped site.  Thankfully, the spot was empty. Safe from tracking. As safe as a Dark Web site could be, really. A full two minutes passed and Pearl’s patience was thinning. Her cursor hovered over the back button when the reply finally came through.

_             MdeOfLve- Hello. _

            That’s it?! Two minutes of waiting for a simple ‘Hello’? She expected it to be more straightforward with more information or something other than a typical greeting. Heaving a sigh, Pearl typed out her next response.

_             Guest01079- Who am I speaking with? _

            The reply was instantaneous this time.

_             MdeOfLve- I could ask the same of you. _

            “You insolent-, first you make me wait, now you question me?” Pearl muttered into the air of her still apartment, aggravation clear in her tone.

_             Guest01079- A potential customer of yours. _

_             MdeOfLve- That depends on if the services you are seeking are ones that I provide. _

_             Guest01079- I need someone taken care of permanently. _

_             MdeOfLve- Then you’re a potential customer of mine. _

_             MdeOfLve- What general details can you give me so I can decide if we are to meet?  _

            Pearl frowned at the last message. She was hoping it would be more anonymous rather than meeting up.  The risks of getting caught or having the deed traced back to her were higher if she met with the mercenary face-to-face.  Being connected to the dirty deed could easily ruin her chance at being elected.

_             Guest01079- Meet? _

_             MdeOfLve- I prefer to put a face to my clients. Makes it easy to know who to go after if I’m set up. _

            An uneasy chuckle slipped past thin lips.  Pearl swallowed and kept typing.

_             Guest01079- Alright.  I am seeking to get rid of The Butter Fiend. _

_             MdeOfLve- The what? _

_             Guest01079- The Butter Fiend is how I will refer to them as. _

_             MdeOfLve- I’m going to need a name, an actual one. Save the codewords for when we meet face-to-face. _

            Pearl breathed out slowly, she didn’t want to divulge this information so quickly, she didn’t even know if this “MdeOfLve” was going to accept the job or not.

_             Guest01079- I’ll tell you once I know that you’re going to take the job. _

_             MdeOfLve- Start talking prices and I’ll consider. _

_             Guest01079- 50k _

_             MdeOfLve- That’s funny. _

            “Seriously?” It came from between gritted teeth. Grumbling, she typed out another offer.

_             Guest01079- 55k _

_             MdeOfLve- Still laughing. _

            Pearl breathed out harshly through her nostrils.  This mercenary was going to soak her.

_             Guest01079- 65k _

_             MdeOfLve- When are you going to stop wasting my time? _

_             Guest01079- 75k.  That’s my final offer. _

_             MdeOfLve- There we go. Was that so hard? _

            Pearl’s lips pulled into a sneer at the condescending message.  “I’ll show you hard,” she spat at the screen.

            The urge to type out that response was incredibly tempting.  However, the need to remain professional despite the mercenary’s unprofessionalism overrode that. She flexed her fingers and took a moment to collect her thoughts before she responded.

_             Guest01079- Now that we have agreed on a price, are you taking the job or not?  I don’t want to waste anymore of MY time. _

_             MdeOfLve- I still don’t know if I’m going after Mrs. Butterworth’s or some random dairy farm.  Once we meet and you give me more solid details then a deal can be finalized. _

            “Once we meet, I’ll punch you in your ugly smug face for taking so much of my money,” Pearl muttered to herself.

_             Guest01079- Where should we meet? _

_             MdeOfLve- I’ll send you coordinates, come tomorrow night at 10:23pm. _

            “How specific,” light grey eyes rolled in their sockets.

_             MdeOfLve- 40.670810, -74.358622 _

            Pearl grabbed the pen and notepad sitting on her coffee table and scribbled the numbers down.  Thankfully it wasn’t far from where she lived. Regardless, with traffic factored in, it would take some time to get there.

_             Guest01079- At exactly 10:23pm? _

_             MdeOfLve- Any later or earlier and I won’t be there. _

_             Guest01079- What are you, some 10:23pm magic fairy that disappears at 10:24? _

_             MdeOfLve- Yes, but better since I’m not only equipped with a magic wand, but also bullets and things that go boom. _

            Pearl gagged, “magic wand”.

_             Great...now I’ll most likely have to put up with unwelcome advances from this guy.  _

_             Guest01079- Fine.  10:23 it is. _

            The chat ended seconds after she sent the message, and Pearl found herself kicked out of not only the chat but the entire website.  Light grey eyes were left staring at a generic search engine. With a huff, Pearl exited out of all the programs, shut down the device, snapped her laptop closed, and placed it on the glass coffee table. Fingers reached up to rub the sides of her head, trying to fight the headache surfacing behind her eyes.

            “This better be worth it.”

\------

            Driving to the location on the piece of paper was a pain.  Weaving her car around all of the bumps and potholes to park in the deserted parking lot was a pain.  Avoiding puddles of who knows what was a pain. Looking around for an entrance to the suspicious warehouse that she could actually open was a pain.  Eyes darted down to her wrist watch, 10:20; her time was running out and she had barely made it into the building.

            “Shit!” the low curse echoed in the large empty room.

            Her long strides turned into light jogging through the warehouse’s gigantic storage area, towards the staircases that led to the office areas she was supposed to meet the mercenary at.  She couldn’t help but feel exposed and vulnerable. This mercenary could easily take her out if he so desired to. She padded up the stairs, eyes zeroed in on her watch. 10:22.

_             Where the fuck is the office?! _

            Multiple doors greeted her in the single hallway.  Pearl swallowed. There was only enough time to knock down the doors to find out which one the mercenary was hiding behind. She headed for the closest one and barged through it. Nothing. The thin woman launched for the next one right across from it, desperation fueling her movements.  Nothing. Eyes darted to her watch again. 10:23. Pearl attacked the next door, wrenching it open. She paused as her eyes fell on a reclined figure sitting in a black, rolling, office chair with worn padding on the armrests, back, and seat.

            “10 seconds late,” the deep, accented voice was infused with amusement.

            Several things jumped at the politician right away.  First, the mercenary was female, the dead giveaway being the wide hips and the roundness to her chest.  Both softened the hard angles made by the woman’s jaw line and rectangular, reflective glasses covering her eyes.  Rich, dark brown skin was framed by a mass of black curls forming a square-like afro. Desert camo, cargo pants, a loose-fitting, olive green, waffle knit shirt, and combat boots prevented Pearl from analyzing the mercenary’s physique any deeper.  The figure indeed was as smug as she had envisioned, but their face wasn’t ugly, not at all. Rather beautiful, the thought crept up from the back of her mind, causing heat to rise in her cheeks.

_             At least I don’t have to worry about the “magic wand” now… well, at least not in ‘that’ sense.  _

            The mercenary reclined back in the office chair even further, drawing several creaks, a small smile playing on her thick lips.

            “Senate nominee Pearl Coleman? Not who I was expecting.” Her arms crossed over her chest; fingers idly scratching at her bicep.

            The sound of her voice ripped Pearl from her thoughts.

            “How-how do you-?” Pearl sputtered.  Any remaining grace she had from crashing into the room had been effectively stripped away by the mercenary’s line.

            “How could I not know?  Your face and name have been plastered all over my TV screen for months ever since this election season started.  I’ll be happy once the whole damn thing is over and I can idly surf through the shit on TV without all of this political bullshit.” 

            Pearl rubbed the bridge of her nose.  That certainly told her a lot about the woman she would be working with.  Regardless of the less than glowing opinion of her occupation, the pale woman pressed onward.  She was talking with her face-to-face like she had demanded; it was time to get down to business.

            “Well then you’ll be glad to hear that you can help speed the end of this election business.”

            At the words, the dark woman’s smirk dropped from her face, lips pulling into a tight line.

            “Susannah Chutz?” she guessed.

            Pearl nodded and crossed her arms as well, mirroring the other woman.

            “I need her gone,” the pale woman stated “the 75k will be wired into your account after it’s done- I’ll need those details, if you don’t mind- and I want it done preferably before the next debate-”

            “No deal.” The dark woman sat up from her reclined position, leaning over with her legs spread apart and her arms resting on her knees. “Politician is too high risk.”

            “What?” Pearl’s mouth dropped open.

            That’s it? She came all this way and set the money aside just for an immediate no? It infuriated the politician, how dare this woman waste her time by toying with her online, upping the price, and sending her on wild-goose chases through the unpleasant parts of the city! Her face turned red with anger.

            “No?” The word came out as a challenge.

            “I have a feeling you’re not used to hearing that word,” the mercenary lowly retorted. 

_             The audacity of this woman! _

            It was getting harder to maintain her professionalism the longer she stayed around the mercenary. Pearl wondered if punching the dark woman would be a bad idea or not.  Long legs took a couple of strides closer to the sitting individual.

            “I thought you would at least be a decent mercenary, not one that chickens out at the idea of having to do a job with any sort of challenge,” she rolled her eyes for emphasis.

            The words made the mercenary frown, but it didn’t look like she would rise to the bait Pearl presented.  Recalling their conversation online, the pale woman noted with no small hint of disdain that increased prices got more cooperation out of the woman.

            “What will it take to make you change your answer?” Pearl redirected. The words came out semi-strained; she didn’t want to have to spend more money on this job.

            “Money talks,” the dark woman said as she reclined back again, lacing her fingers behind her head.

            “80k.” Was the pale woman’s first offer. The smirk on the mercenary’s lips told Pearl that it wasn’t good enough. The politician had a sneaking suspicion that her calling off the deal at first was a ploy for the mercenary to squeeze even more money out of her.

            “I’m still laughing.” 

            With gritted teeth, the politician continued onto the next one.

            “85k.” 

            The dark woman let out a low chuckle.

_             You little- _

            “90k!” The offer came out in an unintended shout. Pearl cleared her throat and regarded the dark woman with a glare.

            The mercenary paused, seeming to contemplate the amount.

            “Ha...ha...ha,” was the infuriating response.

            Pearl let out a growl and her fists clenched at her sides.

            “100k!” she spat out with no small amount of effort.

            The dark woman tilted her head up to the ceiling in mock-thoughtfulness.

            “Deal,” she said, her hand stuck out towards Pearl. The politician made no move to shake it.

            “If you are done draining my wallet,” Pearl started with an edge in her in words “I think it’s time we discuss this job.”

            “Susannah Chutz dead and gone before the next debate, correct?  With no ties tracing the deed or payment back to you.”

            “Precisely.” Pearl clasped her hands behind her back. “She lives in the Woodland Estates, up in the northern part of the state.” 

            “Fancy place.  I can figure out where she lives exactly and all that stuff.  While you may not think so, I actually do my homework and take my occupation seriously.  After all, if I fuck up, I get fucked up bad,” the dark woman jumped on the end of her sentence.

            The politician’s mouth snapped shut in irritation, light grey eyes narrowing.  “Alright. Then what general details were you talking about in the chat yesterday?”

            “Mostly just a name, occupation, the hours she works, places she likes to frequent, weaknesses, or any other random pieces of information you think would be helpful.”

            “OK well, Susannah Chutz, current representative of the house, normally works 8-5 with occasional overtime.  As for places she frequents aside from the government building and her house, I wouldn’t know any specific details, and she has this weird fixation with butter.” 

            “A fixation with butter.” Garnet deadpanned.

            “Yes,” Pearl nodded.

            “OK...any other useful information you might have?” The mercenary’s tone was unimpressed.

            “Not off the top of my head, I didn’t know I’d need it.  I thought you were a professional that does her homework and everything,” the politician folded her arms across her chest

            “I am, I just figured it would be good to get whatever information you might have to help me get a head start.  After all, the sooner she’s gone the better, right?”

            “Correct. Well, since you know those tidbits of information, I assume I’m allowed to leave now?" the politician stated.

            A smirk formed on the mercenary’s lips.

            “No,” was her simple reply.

            Pearl breathed out heavily through her pointed nose. “Why not?”

            “We still haven’t been properly introduced,” was the simple explanation.

            The mercenary leaned forward and stood up, the chair groaning as her weight lifted from it. Once again, a dark hand stuck out towards Pearl.

            “I’m Garnet.”

            Pearl found herself having to tilt her head back a little in order to look Garnet in the face.  Normally, the pale woman considered herself fairly tall, but not only was she a couple inches shorter, but she felt much smaller in comparison to the mercenary now that she wasn’t sitting several feet away.  Light grey eyes looked down at the extended appendage, her own hands pulling closer to her own body as she hesitated. Garnet didn’t budge and it was quickly becoming awkward for Pearl to not accept the woman’s offer for a handshake.  With reluctance, Pearl extended her hand and grasped the other. Rough, calloused hands nearly crushed her hand with the firm shake. Pearl winced.

            “Ah sorry, didn’t expect you to come in so soft, being a politician and all, figured you shook hands all the time,” Garnet attempted to laugh it off, bringing her hand back so she could scratch the back of her neck.

            The pale woman frowned and rubbed her hand, making sure nothing was damaged.

            “What will be the best way to contact you if we need to speak again?  More precisely when the job is completed and I need to pay you, or if I come across some piece of information that might be helpful,” Pearl changed topics, eager to leave and be done with this whole meeting. 

            “We’ll talk on the phone using codewords.” Garnet explained nonchalantly.  “Another benefit of meeting in person is that I can give you this.”

            A small device that the politician could only consider to be archaic was pulled out of one of the many pockets in her camo cargo pants.  Without asking permission, Garnet plopped the device right into same hand she nearly crushed only a minute ago. The pale woman jerked back from the intrusion, staring at the device with disdain.  It was hardly bigger than the palm of her hand, had a 12 digit keypad, a two-inch square screen, was only ⅜ of an inch thick, and weighed practically nothing. A disposable phone. Pearl pursed her lips.

_             Phone calls be will risky. I don’t want to have her call me at a bad time or for my conversations on this device get recorded. _

            “What about call history? Or what if the phone gets tapped?” Pearl asked, crinkling her nose as she further examined the cheap phone.

            “Then you break it and buy a new one.”

            “Excuse me?  I have to buy a new one?  I’m already forking over 100k here, now I have to pay for new phones as well?!”

            “Well I can give you a new one if that does happen, but that would require meeting in person again,” Garnet crossed her arms over her chest and shifted her weight onto one leg, a small smirk playing in the corner of her mouth.

            Pearl glowered at the dark woman.

_             This insufferable- _

            “Fine,” she spat, “I’ll pay for any necessary replacements.”

            Meeting again with the mercenary to get a new phone was not an option.  She didn’t want to have to spend more time than necessary with Garnet. One meeting to set everything up and one final meeting after everything was taken care of.  That was it.

            “It can text or call, but nothing else.  You can send me messages whenever you want and I’ll respond when I can.  Same goes for phone calls. Though it doesn’t have the capacity for picture texts, so sorry to disappoint you there.”

            “Why would I need to send pictures-?”

            The pale woman’s brain figured out what the mercenary was implying.

            “You-!   You insufferable!  Argh! That’s just-” Pearl took a deep breath, she wasn’t going to let this throw her off and give the reaction the dark woman was wanting.

            A wolfish grin spread across Garnet’s face.

            “I think we’re done here, future senator.”

            “I agree,” Pearl stiffly nodded.

            “We’ll be in touch.”

            With that the woman turned and walked out of the door, leaving the senator nominee without so much as a goodbye.  Pearl whirled around and stormed out in the same direction. The last place she wanted to be was in a broken-down warehouse all alone. For a few awkward moments she followed Garnet as they both made their way down towards the first level.  Thankfully the woman went a different direction than Pearl when it came to heading out the building.


	2. Scoping out the Competition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet does her research.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back to the second installment of the gain train! This time I (Forever_Tank) is conducting :D

**_Chapter 2: Scoping out the Competition_ **

\---

Having new work was good, a new client with a large payout was nice.  However, having to assassinate a political figure was less than optimal.  Garnet let out a long sigh as she continued her casual search through the web to find out what she needed about Susannah Chutz.  So far the woman seemed like any other politician, oily and good with words, but poor with following through on promises given. Browsing through the senator nominee’s social media accounts and comments people had left about her provided little useful information.  A frown crossed Garnet’s lips as she looked at some of the other accounts Susannah Chutz followed on her personal twitter account.

_ Official_Butter_Cow... _

An eyebrow was raised as Garnet read over the name. 

_ OK… _

She scrolled through more of the followed accounts, finding that an odd number of them were related to some form of butter amongst all of the normal things people and politicians tend to follow.  Garnet’s frown deepened. She clicked out of the twitter account and switched to a wikipedia article instead, scouring it for any useful information before she jumped to her more personal and successful methods of finding out about a target. Little was revealed in the article that she hadn’t already found elsewhere.  With a sigh, the mercenary switched modes, getting serious and scanning through websites to find the woman’s home address and the location of all the places she tended to visit and work at. There were many locations, restaurants, grocery stores, shopping malls, political buildings, etc. Susannah moved around a lot. Thankfully there were numerous tweets, and postings about her being in certain places either made by her or others who supported her.

_ First I need her schedule, is this a routine?  Or is it random? When is she home and alone? Does she have bodyguards?  What type of systems are installed in her house? Her car? _

Garnet went through her mental checklist of questions as she looked over the locations again, trying to find a pattern in the times they were visited by her target. Political buildings were visited the most, the mercenary found, with daily visits being conducted from Susannah, but the times were random. Garnet pressed a knuckle to her lips as she read over the tweets again, deep in thought.

_ Where is she the most vulnerable?  What is her weak link? _

There was always something that opened up someone’s defenses.  Susannah had no husband and no children, overall she didn’t seem involved with her other family members.

_ Just politics… _

Only so much could be learned online.  Now that she had a basis for her target, she needed to get out and get a visual.  Garnet needed to see what she was up against and start making a plan from there. After shutting down her computer, the dark woman checked her disposable phone, making sure she didn’t miss anything from her client.  Nothing. With a nod, Garnet got ready for bed and was soon fast asleep.

 

Traffic in the big cities was always a pain in the ass.  Traveling to Washington DC to scope out Chutz’s daily routine was an ever bigger pain in the ass.  Tollbooths everywhere and parking fees made her wallet cringe. She was used to some tolls and paid parking, having lived on the East Coast most of her life, this was just a whole nother level.  Posing as a visitor to the United States Capitol, Garnet made her way from the parking lot to the actual building. A low whistle was let out as she stared at the White House from behind the fence and amongst the throng of tourists.  Going after Chutz anywhere near this building was a death trap. 

_ NOPE! _

Covered eyes easily spotted several secret service members within seconds, along with armed guards, police, and security cameras.

_ This is why I don’t like going after political figures. _

Fashionable flats pivoted and began to walk down the sidewalk, following the flow of the foot traffic.  Since she had made the drive, she might as well enjoy some of the scenery before heading off to her other planned stops.  Muscular legs moved with a little bit of hinderance, Garnet wasn’t used to wearing a pencil skirt. She wasn’t used to wearing one of her nice blouses or the matching suit jacket either, but since she would be spending her day in the area, she needed to blend in somewhat.  After an hour of looking at the White House, Garnet decided to head to her next location. A grocery store the politician was known to frequent. Thankfully it was far enough from the White House that the mercenary might consider using it. Soft buzzing came from her jacket pocket just as she stepped into the parking garage where her car was located. Garnet reached in and found that it was her disposable phone that was causing the stir.

“Hello?”

“What’s your progress?” came the now familiar voice.

“Really?  It’s been a day.” Garnet remarked

An irritated sigh came from the other side of the line. “And now we’re a day closer to the next debate. I want to know if you made any significant progress since our meeting,” Pearl pressed.

“I’d be making more progress if I weren’t being disturbed while on the job,” the mercenary commented as she strode towards her plain car.

“It’s a simple question.  You gave me this so we could communicate.” There was a brief flicker of anger in the politician’s tone before it disappeared.

A smile pulled on Garnet’s lips.  “Yes communicate, not babysit. I’m a professional and I didn’t agree to daily checkups.”

“I’m not babysitting!” the politician seethed.

Garnet warily sat down in her car, careful to not accidentally rip her skirt, and started the engine.  “Sure having a hard time believing that statement. I don’t expect you to write a bill in a day, don’t expect me to do my job in one either.”

“Alright, fine,” came the huff from the other side.  “I’ll assume you’ve made progress and will check in at a later date.”

_ I sure hope you don’t… _

“Try waiting more than a day next time.” with that she hung up the phone and breathed out heavily.

Aside from the grocery store, the next places she aimed to check out were a coffee shop and a couple of restaurants the politician had been spotted at frequently.  With a grumble Garnet pulled out of the parking lot and punched in the address to the grocery store, and then navigated towards it.

_ Should probably buy some bread and bananas while I’m there...eh...probably shouldn’t...no...I should, no point in going to a grocery store if I’m not going to get something. _

Fortunately the dark woman didn’t encounter as many tolls on her route.  However, finding parking in a small lot surrounded by large corporate office buildings was a real pain in the ass.  Quarters were shoved into the open meter she had luckily spotted, pushing it to it’s highest time limit. The last thing she needed was to get a ticket for being ten seconds late.  The grocery store was one of those high-end markets that sold fancy food that cost three times what it should. Garnet blended right in with the crowd of well-dressed, regular patrons who were scrutinizing the quality of their food as she too pretended to scrutinize the food she was looking at.  Like any other grocery store there was the necessary levels of surveillance, with a higher concentration around the cashiers. For several minutes the mercenary pushed around the store’s small cart and analyzed items, finally settling on a fancy loaf of bread and some organic bananas.

_ These better taste like heaven.  Fucking $25 for bananas and bread… _

She set the items into the cart and headed further down the aisle, occasionally stealing glances at the cameras above her. After a while of browsing the various rows of overpriced goods, Garnet decided to check out at the cashier, forking over twenty-five dollars for the two items.

Once outside, the mercenary reached a hand inside the brown bag- it had cost an additional ten cents- and pulled a ripe banana from its bunch, peeling it and taking a bite from the tip. She grimaced after a few seconds of chewing.

_ This tastes like any other banana… _

As she finished the banana the mercenary kept her eyes scanning the surrounding area. Though there were quite a few office buildings, none of them provided a good sniping spot. They were far too short and the roofs were far too visible from the ground. Garnet kept scanning until she found a higher building, but that building happened to be posted next to a police station, which meant a quick response time that would give her no opportunity to escape.

_ Scratch this one off the list. No way I’m getting a shot here. _

Garnet kept the grocery store in mind, however, listing it as somewhere to never step foot in again as she headed back to her car. A sigh escaped her lips as she noted how much time was still on her meter.

_ Well maybe someone who needs it will get it. _

With a shrug she got into her car and headed off to the next address. The coffee shop was another high-end place that typically only rich snobs populated, and once more Garnet found herself out of place as she looked around. There were only three cameras: one posed at the door, one at the counter, and one pointing into the kitchen. Covered eyes were drawn to the large banner hanging over the registers.

“Back and Butter Than Ever” - Susannah Chutz for Senate

_ She paid for advertisement here. _

Garnet headed for the counter, tilting her head up to look over the menu that hung on the back wall. There was an option for a simple black coffee, a high-priced one at that. Once she walked up to the front, a barista took her order.  The hot cup was served minutes later accompanied by the sound of the register chiming. It was time to just sit back, observe, and listen. Garnet picked a table for two and claimed it as her own, casually leaning back in her chair as she took a tentative sip of the steaming liquid.  The coffee was smooth and not as grainy as she was used to. Covered eyes roamed all over the other patrons in the shop as her ears worked as hard as they could to hear the conversations.

_ Shoulda worn my hearing aids today. _

An hour and a half passed with her enjoying her cup and absorbing the atmosphere.  Several groups of men in suits came by, loudly chatting about the things going on in their office, a number of single individuals like her trying to claim a spot and enjoy their brew, a few couples meeting up.  Conversation ranged from the latest sales deal made, to politics, to the weather, to the latest gaming app that was frustrating someone. Secretly Garnet had been hoping for a sighting of her target, but no such luck.  Covered eyes glanced at her wrist watch. She had two more locations to go to, with the final destination for the day not happening until it got plenty dark at night. She stood from her chair and headed outside, walking towards a trash can. She pretended to finish off her cup of coffee as she searched the area.

_ Too public, way too public. And no good buildings to perch on. That one might be good… no it's not accessible. Ah shit, scratch this one off as well. _

Garnet chucked her cup in the garbage and headed back to her car. __ She examined two more spots, a restaurant and a waffle house. Similar to the grocery store and the coffee shop, there were no good perches and they were located in a far too public an area for her to consider sniping from ground level instead. Done with her locations for the day, she headed home.

Once she arrived at her complex, Garnet headed inside her unit and dropped her bag of groceries on the counter, making her way towards her room afterwards. Garnet sat down on her bed and snatched her laptop off the dresser, opening it and clicking a text document. Once the program loaded, she began to type out her findings. After she finished, Garnet shut the laptop and set it back on the dresser.  Fingers worked to set an alarm on her phone to wake her up later that night, the curly haired woman then settled into her sheets and fell asleep soon after.

The sound of her blaring alarm jolted the dark woman from her rest. With an aggravated grunt, she reached for her phone and switched it off, intending to go right back to sleep until her mind reminded her of her mission. Grumbling, Garnet left the comfort of her sheets and pulled on the boots she left at the side of her bed, reaching over to fetch her sunglasses off the nightstand next. The former marine was up and wide awake in moments as her mind went into full professional mode.  Her usual gear was assembled into her trusty, medium-sized, digital camo backpack in minutes and she was on her way shortly thereafter.

Finding a spot to park in the dead of night on a weekday proved easy in comparison to earlier.  With her car stowed away in an inconspicuous spot, the mercenary proceeded to hike the rest of the way towards Susannah’s home with her backpack slung over both shoulders. Crisp air was drawn into lungs and expelled in a cloud of vapor.  Boots silently moved across the damp, pine needle-ridden forest grounds as covered eyes swept the area for any signs of security or things that could reveal her approach. Thirty minutes later, the unkempt forest slowly turned into one that was routinely groomed and covered in green grass.  Garnet slowed her approach and moved with even greater caution; slipping from cover to cover until she was as close as she dared. From there the mercenary climbed up a sturdy oak and situated herself in a covered spot that would allow her to do some preliminary mapping of Susannah’s estate. The mercenary swung her backpack off her shoulders and flipped it so it rested on a nearby branch. She discarded her sunglasses, hooking them in the round collar of her shirt for the time being, and and unzipped the pack. A camera was pulled out, professional, meant for professional photography, along with a notepad and pencil. Garnet held the camera up to her eye.

_ One shot of the entrance, one shot of surveillance, one shot of- _

Garnet went through her checklist as she looked around with her camera, occasionally refocusing it or zooming in. After a minute of searching, she found something that looked like the entrance.

_ Click. _

She pulled the camera away and looked at the display. A clear shot of the walled porch and the large, mahogany doors _.  _ Posted near the door was a security guard, and near the overhanging black and grey shingled roof was the bottom of a day and night camera, nestled in the corner and only barely visible in the photo. She brought the camera to her eye again and focused in on the security camera.

_ Click. _

Garnet pulled back to look at the display. A little more of it could be seen, but not enough for her to identify the model. She would have to find another camera. She brought the camera to her eye again and scoped the front wall of the house. Nothing. Garnet then zoomed out so she could capture an overall view of the front.  With that picture, she quickly sketched out the windows, doors, and security measures. She then focused the camera in on a second story window, finding what looked like to be a study inside. A quick note was made on her drawing.

_ There we go. _

Positioned between two bookcases was a camera similar to the one she had spotted guarding the entrance. Garnet took the shot. Perhaps this one will give her the model information she needed.  Several more pictures were taken of the study until the dark woman was satisfied. Then she moved on to the next second story window that was facing her. Curtains covered it making it impossible to see anything, but as she lined up the camera to take a picture a shadow passed by.

_ Click. _

Garnet pulled the camera away and quickly looked at what she had captured.  A loose grin formed on her lips when the shot showed a complete profile. Exposed eyes narrowed as they studied the human-shaped shadow.  At first glance it didn’t look like Susannah, but she would have to save analyzing it for later, she needed to gather the rest of her data.  For several minutes she watched the one window hoping to see the shadow pass by again. However, when minutes passed and it had yet to happen, Garnet moved on to the other windows she could see from her vantage point.  The third second story window yielded little information, and two large first story windows gave her good looks into the entrance, front room, and living room. More notes were added, slowly mapping the inside of the house from the outside.  As she was studying the first floor, she noticed a suited male walking around the living room.

_ Click. _

If there was one thing that her experience told her, it was that man was a guard.  The stiff formal walk, the ever so cliche black suit, not to mention the visible earpiece.

_ Why would a low-ranked government official have so much security?  I can understand cameras, but more than one guard? Well she is a senate nominee, a current house rep, and she does have a price on her head… _

For some reason it made Garnet curious as to how much protection her client had around her.  The dark woman had a sneaking suspicion that the other had little to no protection at all. Several more pictures were taken of the grounds to give her the information she needed.  Lastly, she went over each of the windows on the front of the house again, making sure that her notes were correct and that she hadn’t missed the master bedroom. Nothing. With that side of the house satisfactorily scoped out, Garnet put away her camera and made her way down the tree.  After hiking in a wide arc for a good twenty more minutes, she found an old pine tree to make her next perch.

_ Let’s see if I can find the master bedroom on this side. _

Sniping Chutz from afar while she slept or sat in her room would be the best method for making a clean kill and escape. Garnet pulled her camera from her bag again and scoped out the house. More windows gave her different angles of the rooms she spotted before along with the kitchen and dining rooms. A second sketch was made of the west side of the house. Piece by piece it was filled in from the observations she made with her camera.  Still no master bedroom, but at least she had found a couple of other smaller bedrooms.

_ Maybe on the other side... _

Garnet chose to ignore finding the master bedroom for the moment in favor for taking pictures of the fenced off backyard. Over the walled off area she could spot a large pool and a yard, and right around the corner she could see the hints of a porch. 

After scanning the windows again and finding no hints to the main bedroom, Garnet stowed away her camera and slid down the trunk of the tree. She circled around the forest until she found herself near the back of the house, and she climbed up another tree and took her spot on a branch, retrieving her camera and notepad.

The porch and the doors that led inside were in clear view from her perch. Garnet brought the camera to her eye.

_ Click. _

She scanned around the back wall, mapping out the various features of the estate. Several cameras in areas with a lot of blind spots and a number of windows. She took a picture of each one of them, made her notes, and then moved on to the guard near the back entrance.

_ Why would you need this much security, Chutz?  It’s not like anyone is trying to kill you.  _

The mercenary took the picture of the man and scoped the backside of the house again. Nothing. With a hum, Garnet put away her camera and left the tree, heading around to the last wall.

_ A view into the master bedroom would have to be on this side. _

She took her spot on a tall maple, securing herself on a middle branch as she brought her camera to her eye. The sidewall had several windows that offered more angles to the rooms she spotted before on the front and back, and allowed her vision into several new rooms. One final sketch was made depicting the east side of the house.  Garnet took her pictures of the inside and made her notes. As she panned over to the second window from the back on the second story, a grin appeared on the mercenary’s face.

_ There you are. _

Finally she had found the master bedroom.  It was unmistakable in its easy view into the large room complete with a king-size bed, a massive TV, fancy nightstands and dresser, and Chutz herself sleeping soundly in the middle of the bed. Two more photographs were taken and a few more notes were made before Garnet put her camera in her pack and slid down the tree. Her shades were retrieved from the collar of her shirt and placed back over her eyes. It was time to go home.  A huff was pushed past parted lips as Garnet began the long hike back to her car. As she approached her car, she hid behind a bush and swept the area, making sure she didn’t see anyone watching or following her. Satisfied that she didn’t find anything suspicious, she covered the remaining distance to her car and drove out of there immediately.

Arms were thrown into the air as she stretched, one hand coming down to scratch her stomach for a second.  Tomorrow she would know if it had been a successful night or not.

_ If the popo don’t show up, then they didn’t see me. _

The laptop was opened up and powered on as Garnet removed the SD card from her camera.  Once the device was up and running, she downloaded all of the pictures she had taken that night into the new folder she had created for this job.  Trying to get a shot at Chutz at the government building was nuts and the other locations were a complete waste. Like usual, the house was a much more ideal situation, even with the additional security.

_ Nothing I can’t handle. _

With that taken care of and decided, the curly haired woman kicked off her boots and sweaty socks before flopping onto her bed and falling asleep.

 

Sounds of a device vibrating against wood snapped the dark woman out of her dreamless sleep.  She fumbled around, blinded by the bright daylight pouring in through her window. Hands reached out trying to either grab her sunglasses or the phone.  The phone won. Fingers hit the answer button before she could open her eyes to look at who was calling her.

“How is your progress for today?”

It took a moment for her sleep hazed mind to recall who the annoying voice belonged to.  Sunglasses were retrieved by her open hand and pushed onto her face. 

“Hello?” came the irritated voice.  “Are you even there, Garnet?”

“I wish I wasn’t here, didn’t I tell you not to call back until it’s been over a day?”

A huff came from the other side of the line.  “It’s been over 30 hours since we’ve last talked.”

_ Oh goody… _

“That’s nice,” Garnet grumbled, sincerely wishing she hadn’t heard the phone, but old habits and training die hard.

“So what is your progress for today?” Pearl pressed.

The mercenary sighed, sat back on her heels, and stared around her bedroom.

“I am awake thanks to you, and will continue to work on your commission today like I did yesterday.”

“You just woke up?!  It’s almost 2 o’clock in the afternoon!  You’ve just been sleeping?”

“Look lady, I was up all  _ fucking _ night long working on this,” she retorted with an extra, slightly sensual, emphasis on the middle of the sentence, “I need to get my sleep too so I can shoot properly and make it home alive.”

The line went quiet for a moment.

“Isn’t it dangerous to say things such as that on a phone?” For some reason, Pearl’s voice had dropped into a whisper.

“I could be talking about doing a photoshoot all day and driving while fucking exhausted.  If that’s not believable, then that’s why I gave you a disposable phone.”

“Who would believe- agh, nevermind! I just want to know your progress!” Pearl had stopped her whispering, almost full on shouting at this point.

Garnet’s ear stung with the increased volume, even with her hearing loss, and she held the phone away. For a moment, she entertained the idea of hanging up on the politician, but she knew that would only lead to Pearl trying to call her back for the rest of the day. 

“My progress has been substantial; I got my fucking picture perfect photos of the estate and an even prettier map on my notepad,” Garnet growled out, not at all trying to contain her anger.

“What? What does that have to do with my-”

“Uh oh, I’m going through a tunnel.  Can’t...hear....wha-”

Garnet hung up on the politician. She tossed the phone to her nightstand and slapped a hand over her forehead. The ringing of the phone sounded not even seconds after, but the mercenary didn’t bother to pick it up. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading!


	3. Plans Put into Action

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to part three of our crazy story! Garnet gears up for her assassination attempt. Will it go well? Will she get traced to the kill?

**_\---_ **

            Two weeks.  Two weeks of scoping, plotting, checking, double-checking-a vibration coming from the phone sitting on her desk pulled Garnet’s attention to the side.  Two weeks of dealing with constant calls and conversations with her exceptionally chatty client. With a huff another box of ammo was shoved into her backpack before she reached over to pick up the disposable phone.  Despite telling Pearl that she didn’t need to check in every day, the politician had done so without fail.

            “I’ve been awaiting your call sweetie,” the mercenary answered with a voice pitched higher than usual.

            The groan emitting from the other end made Garnet smirk.  Playing with the other woman served to be a great way to channel her annoyance at being monitored so much.  It also made for interesting conversations where the politician would give her some grief as well.

            “I’m not even going to respond to that,” came Pearl’s flat tone.

            “But you just did.”

            Another groan.

            “I want to know your progress.”

            Garnet envisioned the thin woman rubbing her temples as she spoke.

            “You know at what point I’m at, in just a little bit all of your worries should be taken care of.  And hey, we still got five days before the next debate!”

            “I am well aware of that.  I wanted to make sure everything is ready for you and that you have everything you need,” came the sigh.

            “I’m a professional, I know what I’m doing.  I don’t know why you keep on calling me though.”

            The other line was silent for a moment.

            “I don’t either.”

            “I think it’s just because you like talking to me,” Garnet playfully hummed.

            Pearl seemed to consider her words for a moment.

            “You do have more surprising and entertaining words coming out of your mouth than most of the people I talk with all day.  You’re not afraid to be a complete asshole to me,” the politician admitted. 

            “So you like my assholeness then?” a covered eyebrow was raised up.

            “I suppose I do. Don’t get excited over it though. Once this job is finished we won’t be talking on a regular basis anymore.”

            “Awww, you’re gonna miss me aren’t ya?” Garnet teased as she zipped up her backpack, now full of everything she would need to carry out the assassination in just a few short hours.

            “Of course not! Why would you imply something as unbelievable as that?!”

            The dark woman chuckled as  Pearl reverted back into her exasperated self. She lifted herself out of her chair, backpack in one hand and phone in the other, heading for her front door. She set it down with a dull ‘thud’, gear clacking together as it hit the floor.

            “With how much you call me, it makes me wonder if you’re using my voice to aid in your personal time.”

            A brief pause on the other line.

            “What?” The politician sounded confused.

            “You know what I mean,” Garnet lowered her voice.

            “No, I don’t. ”

            “Alright then, the joke was lost on you,” the mercenary grabbed her pair of heavy-duty combat boots, setting them beside the backpack. “How was your day?” 

            “You want to know how my day was?” There was genuine surprise in the politician’s voice.

            “Yeah,” Garnet shrugged as she double-checked her gear, nodded her head, then flopped back onto her couch.  “I got some time to kill... no pun intended. Not a good idea to nap before doing business.”

            “That’s such a normal and considerate question.  You hit your head or something?”

            Eyes were rolled behind the sunglasses.  “Noooo, just feeling like toning down my assholeness for a few moments.”

            “Do you become reflective before carrying it out?  Don’t you ever worry about not making it home?”

            Garnet shifted in her seat.  That was not something she wanted to talk about.

            “Hey, hey, you still haven’t answered my question!” came the objection.

            “Ughhh, fine.  My day was like any other day was.  Emails, phone calls, people telling you how to do your job, constant pestering, trying to figure out the best way to handle a volatile situation, only to at the end of the day feel like you’ve done nothing.”

            Garnet hummed, waiting for Pearl to continue.

            “It’s not easy to write bills, well technically it is, it’s hard to get people to agree and to work together towards things that will hopefully make life better for others.  However, there are those who fight against the common good and only serve their self interests. They don’t care how many people die, they don’t care about the environment, they don’t care about anything aside from their own pocketbook.”

            “Is The Butter Fiend one of those?”

            “Yes, and no.  The Butter Fiend gets donations from a lot of large corporations in the energy industry, while they don’t actively hurt the people, they don’t really serve the people.”

            Garnet scratched her chin.

            “Are you one of those people?”

            “What do you mean by that?”

            “Should I be helping you get your spot?  Or should I not? Are you going to serve the people or are you going to serve your own interests?”

            “I-I…” Pearl exhaled.  “Look...wait, have you even bothered to look up my platform and promises?”

            “All politicians are liars, they say what they need to onstage to get votes then ignore the outrage when they fail to deliver on them.”

            “That is true…” Pearl agreed.

            “So I want to hear it from you, before I do this.  Who are you going to serve?”

            “The people.”

            “Just the majority?  The people who voted for you?”

            “I want to fight for things that will make a positive impact, I want to protect those who don’t have the power to do so, I want to work for the people.  That’s what this role was originally for, too bad it’s become so corrupt that such a stance is so radical,” the politician’s voice became increasingly more passionate as she went on.

            “You’re not exempt from the corruption, you hired me, remember?”

            “Yes…”

            Garnet stood up and paced around.  “Welp I hope you’re satisfied with your decision, I’m a woman of my word and will follow through on a job.  Just remember this isn’t something that can be taken back.”

            “I know.  Thank you, Garnet.”

            “What?  You thanking me?  What is this?” came the tease; Garnet was sick of the serious tone.

            “You-!  Argh, just accept it OK?”

            The dark woman dramatically sighed.  “Fineeee.”

 

            Under the cover of night, Garnet parked her car a ways away and set out for her target’s house. Her backpack was slung over her shoulder, and strapped to her hip was her S&W 41 sidearm in its cloth holster, her Remington 597 slung over her other shoulder. Combat boots trudged through the unkempt forest.  Thick, jet black cargo pants and similar jacket kept the night chill at bay. Gloved hands brushed a low hanging branch to the side to allow her silent passage. A black, knit, fabric mask covered all of Garnet’s face, except for her eyes, and helped to conceal her mass of braided hair. The mercenary kept herself low, careful to avoid anything that would make a significant amount of noise. She was in full professional mode now.

            30 minutes went by as Garnet made her trek to the house.  Finally she reached the trees and grass that had been cut attractively. She was on her target’s property.  Cutting a path through the large trees and brush, the mercenary found herself stepping through the treeline, staring at the large estate 20 yards away. Hanging around her neck was a pair of small binoculars. She grabbed them and glassed the front of the house. A guard posted at the entrance. She glassed the windows, looking for a passing body. After two minutes, nothing. Garnet headed back into the trees and began to circle around, heading for the east wall of the house.

            It took a few minutes of weaving in and out of trees and brush, but eventually Garnet founded herself at the east wall. To be sure, she consulted her notepad for the map she drawn up, comparing it with the wall, before nodding to herself and putting the notepad away. The mercenary found a rather large, but still fairly out of view tree that would serve well as a perch. Making sure all of her equipement was securely strapped to her person, she gripped at the trunk of the tree and began to climb up. It took a good two minutes for her to reach a branch that was both high and sturdy.  Minimal movement from her perch was ideal, the last thing she wanted was to have her shot get messed up at the last second. Garnet slung a leg over it and straddled it, scooting across until she was near the middle and had a good view of the master bedroom window.

_             Here we are. _

            She reached for the binoculars around her neck and pressed them to her eyes, glassing the window. The bedroom was empty.

_             Looks like I’m playing a waiting game. _

            Garnet leaned down so her chest was pressed up against wood, keeping her body low as to not be seen from below. She kept a close eye on the guards as well, but most of them seemed to be stationary, and the ones that were patrolling had yet to come around to her side of the house.

_             What sloppy security, Chutz. Next thing you’ll show me that you keep your windows unlocked. _

            The binoculars were brought back to the master bedroom.  Garnet drummed her fingers along the scopes. The bedroom door opened and the mercenary cracked a grin.

            “There we are,” she muttered to herself.

            Chutz walked into the bedroom and shut the door, leaving it dark save for a spot of light coming in from under the door. That didn’t last long though. Susannah flicked on the lights and Garnet let out a quick swear as she jerked her head away from the binoculars, rubbing her eyes. As she brought her forearm away from her burning eyes, the mercenary spotted a guard rounding the corner. Another curse leaving her lips, she pressed herself down onto the branch and hiked her legs up so they weren’t hanging over the sides. Fingers and the heels of her boots dug into the wood. Garnet’s heart pounded in her chest as her body wavered to the side before she managed to center herself again. The guard was halfway across the wall now.

_             C’mon, walk faster you fucker. _

            The guard paused just underneath Chutz’s window and looked it up and down, before he turned and began his walk again. He disappeared behind the corner.

            Garnet waited several seconds before wrapping her legs around the branch again and lifting herself up, grabbing her binoculars and glassing the window again. The lights were still on, but Chutz was nowhere to be seen. A frown set on her lips, the mercenary looked around the room. Not on the bed. Not in front of the TV. 

_             Ah, there! _

            A closet door, which Garnet had not noticed before, was open and her target was standing in front of something. Garnet kept on eye on her. Chutz’s arms were moving up and down, and when she pulled her arm away for a brief moment it appeared as though she was holding a plate. Garnet’s frown deepened. Chutz stood in the closet for several more minutes before she pulled away. Garnet’s eyes almost bulged out of her skull.

_             What the actual fuck? _

            Right in the center of the walk-in closet was a pale yellow statue modeled to look like her target, not a single detail out of place, from her hourglass figure, to the shoulder-length curly hair, to the thin lipped smile. There were several spots on the statue where it had been carved. It was missing all of its fingers and parts of its hips, and when Garnet looked over at Chutz she saw that her plate was stacked with a handful of fingers. She didn’t get another glimpse of the butter statue before her target kicked the door shut and made her way to the bed, taking a seat on it and reaching for the TV remote.

            Eyes blinked several times as Garnet tried to make sense of what she had seen, however none could be made.  With a huff, the mercenary put away the binoculars and switched to her rifle. Before doing anything else she checked the ground below her, mentally mapping out her descent and the path she would take to get back to her car.  The quicker she made the trip the less likely she was to get caught. Garnet double-checked the rounds in her rifle and the silencer. Both were ready to go. The rifle was raised and Garnet gazed through the scope to set the mark between the woman’s green eyes.  This was it. All of her weeks of preparation boiled down to this final moment. With a quiet click the safety was released and a finger rested on the trigger.

            Assassinating a politician was huge.

            Garnet blinked.

            Would killing Chutz have the desired effect?  Or would she be risen from the ashes like some martyr?

            Would this really give Pearl the spot in the senate that she so desperately coveted?  Or would she end up being the reluctant alternative? Would they look into things and suspect her?

            A frown formed on thick lips.

            It never was easy to take a life.

            Something didn’t sit right in Garnet’s stomach as she refocused her mind and took aim once again.  Killing Chutz physically wasn’t the answer Pearl needed or wanted.

_             Fuck. _

            Garnet lowered her rifle and sat back in the tree.

_             I should have never taken this job, I should have told her to go another route than actually killing her competition. _

            The rifle was put away and the binoculars were brought out once again so she could keep an eye on the guards.  The last thing she wanted was to be seen when she wasn’t even going to do anything. A sigh of relief was let out, she was still safe.

_             But I still could use the money. _

_             There’s more than one way to skin a cat, there’s gotta be more than one way to kill a politician. _

            Garnet nearly smacked her forehead when the idea struck her.  With a new plan already forming in her mind, the mercenary checked her surroundings once again before climbing down the tree and making the long hike back to her car.  As she neared her vehicle she made sure to survey the area to make sure no one was watching her. Once she decided it was clear, she got in and drove home.

_             I am not looking forward to the earful I’m going to get tomorrow... _

\--

            The brass key slid into the lock and pushed back the deadbolt.  Bit by bit, the door was opened as the dark woman peered inside, her hand hovering by her sidearm tucked into the back of her pants.  Feet strode into her place and paced around, checking for any hiding figures or any signs of tampering. Even if she hadn’t been seen, it still was a good idea to check.  When it was deemed clear, Garnet returned to her car and began to retrieve her gear. Quick glances were thrown about as she brought back her backpack and speciality clothes in an inconspicuous bag, and only when she entered the apartment again did the mercenary relax. She set the backpack down near the closet door and left to her laundry room to put the clothes in. Returning outside to the car, she brought in her gun cases, setting them into her gun cabinet for the time being as she kicked her door shut and locked it. A long sigh left her lips as she trudged away from her living room and down the hallway, her bedroom calling out to her.  However, before she could rest she needed to jot down her idea. Garnet pulled out her trusty notepad and wrote down her thoughts, both the reason for not killing Chutz and a way to still “kill” her. She moved to her bed, but halted once again, they were running out of time, so she couldn’t afford to accidentally sleep through the day. An alarm was set to go off at 8am.

            The mercenary finally collapsed onto her bed, the only thing keeping her from closing her eyes and falling asleep was the fact that she still had her boots on. She pulled them off one at a time and chucked them away from her bed. A groan slipped from her lips as she rolled onto her stomach and hugged a pillow close to her, shutting her eyes. Exhaustion crept throughout her body, allowing her to fall asleep in less than a minute.

  
  


_             Riiiiinnnnng! _

            A short grumble left Garnet’s lips as she nuzzled her cheek into the pillow, drifting back to sleep as quickly as she woke up.

_             Riiiiiinnnng! _

            The mercenary cracked open a reddened eye, looking around her room. It was cast in a grey-blue, hinting that it was early morning. Another blue light caught her eye, the one coming from the screen of her disposable phone, where she had left it on the nightstand prior to traveling to Chutz’s estate. Garnet glared at it before she scooted along the bed and snatched the phone up.

            “Hel-?

            “So where’s the news segment about the assassination?”

            Garnet grimaced. And there it was…

            The mercenary groaned as she set the phone down for a brief moment before putting it back to her ear, pausing for a second to check the time.

            6:01am

            A whole two hours before her alarm was supposed to go off and only four hours after getting to bed.  Thick lips were pulled down into a frown, she couldn’t blame Pearl for calling so early. Garnet rolled over onto her back and stretched out her aching legs, quads and calves flexing.

            “I didn’t do it.” Better to rip off the bandaid rather than drag it out. The moment of silence on the phone led Garnet believe that Pearl didn’t hear her, but before she could repeat herself the politician spoke.

            “You… didn’t do it?” Her voice shook as she spoke.

            Garnet grimaced. 

_             Here it comes. _

            “No, I-”

            “YOU DIDN’T DO IT?!”

            Garnet jerked the phone away from her ringing ear, wincing in pain. The politician had quite the pair of lungs, Garnet would give her that.

            “Hear me out-”

            Pearl ignored her, “100K for-for doing jack shit?!”

            Garnet rolled her eyes, “You haven’t paid me yet.”

            “I set the money aside!” Pearl seethed.

            “And I fully intend on fulfilling our deal, just not in the way initially planned.”

            “What do you even mean by that?!”

            “Look,” Garnet rubbed her forehead.  “Physically killing Chutz isn’t the way to go and I should have thought of this at our first meeting.

            “Well you didn’t and now we are four days from the debate with the butter fiend just as alive as she was the day before.  Thanks for wasting all of my time!”

            “I haven’t wasted your time, just give me a second to explain!”

            A long pause come from the other end.

            “ _ Fine, _ ”

            Garnet could have sworn she felt spit hit her face from how much the word was forced out.

            “I had her right in my sights, pretty as a creepy statue of butter, ready to be packed up in a casket when I decided not to pull the trigger.”

            “And why the hell did you not?!”

            “Because if I did, while you may have become elected out of lack of opposition, the hashtag of ‘ourmartyr’ would be all over every social media platform and everyone would be resigned to having you as their senator instead of choosing you because you were the  _ butter _ option.”

            The other end of the line was silent for a moment.  The curly haired woman shuffled upwards so she was resting on an elbow.

            “So you decided not to kill her then,” Pearl deadpanned.  “Well in that case I owe you nothing since you obviously don’t want to do the job.”

            “I wasn’t finished,” came the low growl.  “Killing her physically will not give the desired result, but killing her socially and politically will.”

            “And how would you do that?”

            “Ruin her reputation, find some dirt that makes her as the worst choice for a senator.  Make it so they all would so much rather have you instead of her.”

            “Dirt,” the pale woman restated.

            “Yes, dirt.  She’s your opponent, what is it about her that she does or hides that if brought to light would make the hashtag ‘downwiththebutterfiend’ or whatever catchy one liner is created run rampant all over the media?”

            Pearl’s humming drifted through the phone. 

            “I don’t have any off the top of my head,” came the reluctant admittance, “but I have no doubt we could find some, there’s something off about her that makes me cringe whenever I’m around her.”

            “OK, so these next four days we are going to find out what she’s hiding and expose her, and then you can rip her to shreds in the debate, and you’ll pay me my 100k for ‘killing’ her.”

            “There is no way I am paying you 100k now.”

            “Excuse me?!”

            “You bailed on the original plan, are now proposing an entirely different method that has little to no hazards, and could be accomplished by a decent reporter.  How does 25k sound?”

            “How about I break my foot up your ass?” Garnet growled out.

            “10k,” Pearl said smugly.

            The mercenary let out a deep breath.

            “You know most reporters would be grateful for such a large sum,” the politician continued.

            “80k,” Garnet relented.

            A pause.

            “That’s funny,” Pearl replied.

            The grip on her phone spiked.  It took all of Garnet’s willpower to not just crush the thing.

            “75k.”

            “I thought you were a professional marksman, not a comedian.”

            “60k!”

            “Ha ha ha.” The politician’s voice was dripping with contempt.

            “50k, I’m not going any lower than that.”

            A long hum.

            “Fine, but I’m only paying you if this idea works, you chose not to do the first one even though you had a clear shot. There’s no guarantee this will work,” Pearl snapped back.

            “Don’t worry your pretty little head, if we get the right thing she’ll be ‘dead’ in hours with no chance of coming back.”

            “Fine.  You better bust your butt digging for this dirt, then.”

            “I will, alright?” She was getting tired of this conversation.

            “Well,” Pearl huffed, “we both have our work cut out for us.”

            Garnet rolled her eyes.

            “I will be calling you tomorrow to check in with your progress, you better have something better than last night’s terrible performance.”

            “I normally give fucking fantastic performances, leaves my customers unable to stand afterwards.”

            The politician groaned.  “Well I was obviously not impressed.”

            “You will be,” she spoke in a husky tone, thick lips curling up into a smirk.

            “Good day, Garnet,” Pearl stated with force before hanging up.

            Garnet breathed out heavily through her nose as she chucked the phone to the other side of the bed. She fell back against the mattress and gripped the sides of her head.

_             Fuck...half the pay now. _

            She couldn’t blame Pearl, especially since it was true this sort of task was more for the journalism world and not for a killer.  There was nothing she could do now except ensure this plan worked. Not getting paid was not an option after all of the work she had put into it.  The mercenary rolled onto her side and snuggled into her bed. Falling back to sleep until her alarm went off wasn’t going happen now, not with her riled up from the conversation and commision cut.

_             Looks like we get four hours today. _

            She knew from experience that she had enough rest to get to work.  With a huff, Garnet kicked herself into a sitting position, then dropped to the floor and did twenty push-ups followed by fifty sit-ups.

            “Let’s go dig up some dirt,” the mercenary stated as she sat down at her desk and turned on her laptop.

\--

            A day had passed since the abandoned assassination attempt.  Garnet had spent her hours researching Chutz online, using both her legal and illegal methods to obtain information.  While she found semi-solid evidence of her accepting bribes from some major oil companies, that wasn’t something that could be used to ‘kill’ her.  Those types of statements were far too common and thus wouldn’t create the needed outrage.

            The sound of fingers typing away at a keyboard filled the otherwise silent room, Garnet lying down in her bed working at her laptop. Images and walls of text passed by on the screen as the dark woman scanned through the contents, middle finger tapping to scroll further and further until she reached the end of the article. A frustrated sigh left her lips as she leaned back against the headboard of her bed.

_             Useless. _

            She clicked off of the page. The phone on her nightstand rang and the mercenary rolled her eyes. Reaching for it, Garnet snatched it up and flipped it open.

            “Hello my love,” her voice was laced with false affection. A groan on the other side made her smirk.

            “Have you found anything incriminating yet?” Pearl asked.

            “Nope,” Garnet popped the ‘p’. She shifted against her bed so she was lying on her back, one leg moving up and the other crossing over it. “Unless you want to count the oil company bribes.  How ‘bout you?”

            “Nothing,” came her response.

            The mercenary sighed and scratched at her bare stomach, eyebrows knitting together.  “You tried all the buzzwords?”

            “Every one I can think of,” Pearl replied. 

            “The only other thing I’ve found are rumours but was never able to pick up any traction on them.”

            “What kind of rumors?” the politician’s voice perked up.

            “Mostly about her being kinda creepy with how friendly she is with young male news reporters or interviewers.  Other than that, nothing. She doesn’t do much outside from being a politician. Doesn’t even go out or party or fraternize with enemies of the nation.”  Fingers tapped away on the keyboard, bringing up Susannah’s twitter. Eyebrows were raised up when she read through what had been tweeted recently. “Looks like your opponent is hosting a charity ball for Bread for the World the night before your big debate.  Probably well-timed to make her seem more favorable.”

            “Oh yes,” Pearl groaned, “the Making the World a Butter Place Ball, I’ve been hearing about it nonstop.”

            “Looks like it’s to bring awareness to world hunger and raise money for the Bread for the World organization.  That’s a nice thing to do.”

            “Excuse me?!”

            “Hey, I know she’s your opponent and a politician and all, but raising money and giving it to a good cause, even as a popularity stunt, still helps those in need.”

            Pearl gave no immediate response, but Garnet could hear the woman exhaling heavily on the other end.

            “What is your rebuttal for that, future senator?”

            “What do you mean?”

            “Like what are you doing to help others?  Got any charity balls that I should go to and bust?”

            “I don’t want you busting any of my balls Garnet…”

            The mercenary couldn’t help the snicker that jumped out of her mouth upon hearing the politician say that.  Another pause through the receiver as Pearl realized what she had said.

            “Ah-hem,” the pale woman cleared her throat. “My efforts are online organizations of fundraisers that don’t require wasting a ton of money by paying for fancy food or transportation or event centers.  They are just as effective as the showy demonstrations. Though...maybe you could bust a ball, not one of mine, but maybe Susannah’s…”

            Fingers stopped scrolling through the twitterfeed.  “Are you serious?”

            “What better way for you to find some dirt on her than being at one of her parties and observing what she does and says to those around her?”

            Garnet tapped her chin.  It wasn’t a bad idea at all.  She worked to bring up the details on the “Making the World a Butter Place Ball”.

_             There’s a guestlist, but that can be remedied with a little hacking. _

            “So?” Pearl’s voice interrupted her thought process.  “What do you think?”

            “I was so stunned at you having a good idea that I lost all power of speech there for a moment.”

            “Well, what can I say, I’m good at leaving others speechless.”

            The smugness in the politician’s voice wasn’t hard to detect.  Garnet had to smirk at the dirty implication.

_             Guess I’m rubbing off on her. _

            A low chuckle was given as Garnet showed approval of Pearl’s choice of words.

            “Sounds like I’m going to bust a ball tomorrow night,” Garnet smirked. 

            A laugh on the receiver was her response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for reading! Hope you all enjoyed it.  
> Yes we did put a butter statue in this. Why? Because it's funny and creepy, lol.


	4. Rework and Fancy Attire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet busts a ball (and Pearl busts a nut)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo, Forever-Tank this time around! Welcome back to the fourth installment of this collab. We are almost at the end of this train! choo choo!

**_Chapter 4: Rework and Fancy Attire_ **

**_\---_ **

The guestlist wasn’t hard to find, nor was it hard to hack into to put her alias, ‘Estelle Bell’, on the list. Briefly, the mercenary searched through the names as she waited for the change to process on the script she had pulled up in another window.

_ Rich snob, rich snob, politician, someone who has something to prove. Ooo one person from the Bread for the World leadership is there! Rich snob, military official... _

Garnet frowned. It looked like she’d have to dress fancy if she wanted to fit in. Frowning deeper, she glanced to her closet on the east wall of the room. Anything she had in there was either field clothes or something she picked up from a thrift shop. She wasn’t too concerned about her attire, so her wardrobe amounted to about 1500 dollars give or take, with the few fancy items she did have accounting for more than half that cost. Also not including her specialty gear.

_ Which means I’ll have to spend even more money to fit in. Fucking great. _

A sigh left her lips as Garnet pushed the laptop off her. If this idea worked and Pearl kept to her word, then between all the costs she had to pay for the job, her payout would only be about 37,000, not including what she had to pay off before she took the job. The mercenary chose not to think about it too much as she stretched her arm over her head, watching as the script finished its work and her name was placed on the guest list. Garnet let out a hum as she closed the script and opened another; a fake ID maker. She glanced to the corner of her room to make sure her ID card printer was set up. After confirming, she went through the standard ritual of adding a photo and inputting fake information and her alias, the process almost monotonous after years of performing it. After she finished with the card, she selected the print button and went back onto the site.  Idly, Garnet clicked through the categories on the pages, reading brief descriptions of the ball and the establishment it would take place in. A snort left her as she read over the food category.

_ Inedible shit rich people buy to show off wealth. And damn expensive too.  _

Garnet resolved to eat beforehand rather than suffer through putting any of that over garnished slop in her mouth. She scrolled further, reading all the dishes they offered, until one caught her eye.

“A life-sized butter statue of Susannah Chutz, donated by the politician herself…”

The mercenary was suddenly pulled back to the horrifying sight of the partially eaten statue in the politician’s home.  A shudder passed through her frame. But then an idea came to her. Lips turned upwards into a smirk. Mentally, she made a note to do something in regards to the butter fiend’s love for butter statues.

Clicking off the site, she started a search for a dress to wear.

“I supposed I’ll have to get heels too,” the dark woman murmured to herself. Combat boots or sneakers wouldn’t fit in. She added that to her growing list of things to buy as she searched the web. Soon, she landed on a site advertising a variety of formal wear.

_ 2,000 dollars, fuck you. 1,400, not any better. 1,200... _

Garnet sighed and clicked on the rented section. The prices weren’t much better, but the dresses at least looked like they would pass for something a rich snob would wear. She selected a certain one and glanced at its details.

“Either 5 weeks for shipping or I can drive across town and pick it up now. Oh, and it doesn’t come with a matching set of heels, how nice.” Her eyebrows furrowed in frustration as she selected the dress and size to be held for her to pick up. She added gas money to her growing list of costs.

After a while of searching, she found a pair of heels that would go well with the dress and didn’t burn a hole in her wallet. Now all that was left was to pick up the items. Garnet dressed herself in a simple t-shirt and sweatpants and strode over to the card printer, fetching the finished ID and placing it on her nightstand for later.  Afterwards, she headed out to her car and started it, pulling out of her driveway.

 

The store was any typical formal wear boutique, the clerks endlessly bothered her in an attempt to get a commission, everywhere she went she could hear snobs chatting about the prices of the clothes they were buying, and the most annoying of all, she couldn’t find the damn register.

“It goes at the front of the store, the front of the fucking-” Garnet muttered a string of curses as she twisted around and headed back the way she came, still searching for the register.

Any attempt to ask an employee was met with them trying to steer her towards items ‘that might suit her’, so the mercenary had no help on that front. Letting out another aggravated huff of air, she pushed through a rack of dress pants and stepped through. Behind the clothes, the cashier sat behind their register, and for Garnet the discovery was equivalent to finding an oasis in a desert. Barely, she resisted rushing up to the counter.

The cashier regarded her with a sweet smile as she approached.

“Hi, welcome to Gala Attire, how may I help you?”

Garnet offered her own false smile.

“Hello, I placed a hold on a dress and a pair of heels and I came to pick them up. Do you have them?”

They went through the short process of email and phone number verification before the cashier called in an employee on her phone and told Garnet to wait. Minutes later, a man approached with the dress in a sealed bag, and a box containing the heels. Completing the transaction with the cashier, Garnet walked out with her newly acquired attire.

The dress was laid on the back seat of the car with minimal care, while the heels were set on the passenger seat. Letting out an exhale, Garnet started the car just as a realization overcame her.

_ It’s a charity ball, I’ll have to bring a donation of a sort. _

A hum drifted past her lips as she pulled out of the lot. Out of all the things she had to pay for today, the donation she would mind the least. It was for a good cause, after all.  Garnet made a mental note to drop by the bank on her way home and pull out the money she wanted to contribute.

\--

Garnet slept for what remained of the day and awoke at 2:00 pm the next, groggy and aching from the odd position she fell asleep in. Mismatched eyes glanced to the phone on the nightstand. The screen showed no missed calls. 

Garnet tsked, “Least she’s leaving me alone now.”

Standing, Garnet did a set of light morning exercises and left to go make her ‘breakfast’. The mercenary had a few hours of time to kill before going to the ball, she might as well spend it acting like a normal member of society for once.  The latest R&B hits played in the background as Garnet cooked up some eggs and bacon with store-bought waffles. Once the food had been consumed, the dark woman went through her apartment and made up a grocery, medical, and toiletries list.  Spending more money after yesterday initially gave her a knee-jerk reaction, but these were things she needed and this would be the one day she would have to get them as she felt her next few days might be incredibly busy. Garnet double-checked her bank account to make sure she had enough, and then went out to run her errands.

Returning home, Garnet put away all her groceries and necessities before taking a seat on her couch for a well-earned break. The dark woman pulled out her phone.  It was three hours before the ball. She would need one hour to get ready and one hour to get there since she was going to arrive via taxi.

_ Rest for one hour, then get ready. _

Fingers worked to set an alarm.  With that the curly haired woman closed her eyes and drifted off into a short nap.

 

Beeping pulled her out of her too short of a nap.  A large hand slapped the face of the phone in order to silence it.  Garnet rolled over and tumbled off the couch with a thud and a groan.  It was time to get to work. The mercenary’s brain was up and moving in seconds as she took a quick shower and began to dress for the evening.  Thankfully styling her hair into a fashionable afro wouldn’t take long as it liked that form anyway. Since the dress was quite formfitting, she decided to go commando, there was no need for extra creases showing through the dress and if she had to fight, she was confident in her hand-to-hand skills.  The part that took the longest was putting on proper make-up. It had been some time. Garnet had to think of it as camo paint, but to blend in with the sparkly rich crowd instead of greenery or a desert. One hour on the dot Garnet was ready with her red dress and heels on and her black clutch purse that held her smartphone, the donation money, ID card, sunglasses, and a stick of chapstick. She hesitated on putting her disposable phone in there, however. Making a quick decision, she inputted Pearl’s number into her smart phone instead and left the disposable on her bed. The taxi arrived on time and she was off to the “Make the World a Butter Place Ball”.

Traffic was as expected, and she arrived only a few minutes late to the start of the party.  It didn’t matter since there was a long slow-moving line to let the guests in. A grumble in the mercenary’s stomach made her want to let out a few curse words.

_ I fucking forgot to eat!   Awww man……fuck…… _

However, she maintained a pleasant demeanor all the way up to the bouncer.  She couldn’t help but notice the hired protection crawling all over the place.  Two guards stood right next to the bouncer and each guest was being sent through a metal detector and any bags were being searched.

_ Good thing I didn’t bring anything on me… _

Garnet presented her newly made, fake driver’s license for “Estelle Bell”. The name and ID checked out and she was onto the metal detectors.  Much to her surprise she made it through the second layer of security without any trouble, after explaining that the envelope was her donation money, thus allowing her to enter the ball.  The first smell that hit her was all of the alcohol being poured, followed by the fancy foods. Garnet had to admit she was hungry, hungry enough to eat whatever was on the menu.

_ Give the donation, then food, then locate Chutz and find out what dirt she’s hiding. _

Unfortunately, getting to the donations table required having little introductions with all the people she came across.  They all wanted to know who she was, what she did, and some other random chatty subject Garnet couldn’t care less about. By the time the curly haired woman made it to the donation table she was ready to snap the neck of the next person who took her away from her task.  Mismatched eyes looked down at the name tag of the individual manning the donation table. It was the one name on the guest list that had belonged to the Bread for the World organization.

“Hello there, I’m Miss Bell,” Garnet greeted, “Sorry my donation is not in check form, I hope you still take cash,” she smiled sweetly as she presented the envelope.

“We accept any form of donation Miss Bell, thank you so much,” they smiled as they took hold of the donation.  “Would you like to have your name and amount put down?”

“Please, I hope my example will inspire others to do the same.  This world needs more help and less hurt.”

“We will do that.  Thank you again for your donation.”

With a wave Garnet turned and beelined for the banquet table.  Her pretentious attitude made her want to vomit. However, she had to admit, she didn’t mind donating.  Spread out before her was a feast, a feast of questionable tastes in her opinion. Snails, fish eggs, kale smoothies, pork rillette, and more food that made the mercenary want to gag, but she could find items she didn’t mind loading a plate up with.  A slice of the spinach, egg, and bacon quiche, grapes, half of a mango, three pieces of garlic bread, two scoops of shrimp boil, and two thick and juicy slices of beef wellington. Garnet didn’t even register some of the looks that were being thrown at her due to her plate, beginning to chow down as elegantly as she could muster.  Brown and blue eyes continued to scan the area, searching for Chutz. The mercenary almost choked on her beef wellington when she spotted the creepy statue of butter.

_ That’s not the Chutz I’m looking for. _

Much like when she first saw it, it was half eaten, but both of its arms, a good section of the torso, and its jaw was missing from it. Garnet repressed a shudder as she tore her gaze away from it, stabbing her fork into a piece of smoked sausage and stuffing it into her mouth. Her eyes continued to scan around for the real Chutz and not her butter imitation, with no luck. By this moment, the guests were crowding together, eliminating most of her visibility. Garnet’s eyebrows furrowed as she looked down onto her plate. She would finish her food first, then go looking for her target.

Setting her dirtied and empty plate into a bin, the mercenary brushed off her dress and made her way across the room, eyes scanning this way and that as she looked for signs of Chutz. Around her, guests mingled and laughed, paying her little mind. Those that did she made sure to act well enough around to maintain her disguise. One guest was flaunting his money to a swooning server. The sight of it made Garnet frown.

_ Someone’s looking to become a sugar daddy. _

Garnet looked away from the scene and continued her way through the crowd. Wasn’t in her best interests to be caught staring at people. 

“We are here live at the ‘Making the World a Butter Place Ball’ speaking with democratic senate nominee-”

The curly haired woman didn’t even bother to listen to the rest of it, she knew exactly who was being interviewed. Her lips turned up into a smirk as she changed direction towards the voice. Behind a crowding of people and reporters, Chutz stood munching on a piece of toast slathered with butter. Garnet stood back at a safe distance and put on a pleasant expression, pretending to be listening to her idol rather than spying on her target. 

“Tell me, Ms. Chutz, what first gave you the idea of throwing this ball?” The reporter maneuvered his microphone so it was under Susannah's lips. The politician spent a moment chewing her bread before she leaned into the mic.

“Well, to be honest, I had no reason at first other than to help out those in need, but being a politician and having to listen in to so many briefings about disasters, whether natural or man-made, made me realize how evil this world could be at times and how needed these types of charity balls-”

Garnet stopped listening in to the pretentious speech, more interested in the hand that was slowly making its way up the reporter’s arm. An eyebrow raised as the reporter, never losing his professional composure, shrugged away from the intruding hand. 

_ Interesting. _

“That’s a very thoughtful thing for you to do, Ms. Chutz. How would you go about making our nation a better place if you were to win your position?” The reporter moved the microphone towards Susannah again.

With a thin-lipped smile, the politician took hold of his forearm and pulled the microphone closer, her pinky trailing circles on the limb.

“Oh, I plan to do so much, far beyond passing bills. I plan to go out and listen to the community, to take feedback when given-”

The reporter wasn’t pulling his arm away, but his face screamed discomfort. Garnet considered the idea of Chutz being drunk, but her face lacked the telltale flush and her voice didn’t slur. Whatever she was doing was intentional and sober.

_ Chutz… are you making this easy on me? _

Garnet crossed her arms and made the choice to listen until the reporter was done with his interview. He had tugged his arm back by now and was moving into the next question, but Chutz still hadn’t let up on her coming-on to him, moving closer until they were almost touching and hand at his thigh.

“Thank you for your time, Ms. Chutz.” His voice was strained, and his eyes darted between the camera and a potential exit. “That will be all.”

“Oh, it was my pleasure.” It came out in a purr. Chutz smiled as she watched the reporter scurry off, his camera crew following. Another reporter came up, female this time, and she turned to address her.

Garnet almost wanted to pump her fist in victory; she had a lead. The mercenary didn’t make to move however, staying for part of the interview so her sudden leave wouldn’t seem suspicious. During the interview, Chutz kept her distance and her voice was more professional, no longer containing the flirty undertone. Quite the night and day difference. 

Garnet headed off towards the direction the male reporter had left in, searching for him so she could conduct her own interview. On the way, she made sure to stop and talk to guests who wanted to speak with her, keeping her disguise as another snob in the ball. But the stops were frequent, and her patience was wearing thin with all of the talk about money, the economy, politics,  and what type of investments she had in the form of stocks, roth IRAs, and 401ks. The mercenary excused herself from what was probably the fiftieth guest to speak to her that night. She made sure to walk with a sense of urgency this time around, deterring anyone else from trying to speak to her. 

She made it to the end of the room, where only a few stragglers from the massive crowd of people hung around, most of them near the open bar. Garnet paid them no mind as she searched around, until her eyes locked on a pair near the corner. At first, she thought that she was in the front row seat to them getting to know each other better, but as she focused more on them, she saw that the pair was familiar.

_ Oh Chutz… what are you doing? _

She was speaking to the same male reporter from the first interview, and judging by her body language it wasn’t anything professional and probably more along the lines of what exactly she wanted him to do to her or vice versa. Her hands were on his arms, rubbing up and down and avoiding each swipe of his own hands trying to get her to let go. The male reporter looked uncomfortable, aggravated, and powerless to escape without making a scene. Frowning, Garnet started to walk towards them.

“Look, I really need to go, my shift ends-”

“Oh, so soon? I haven’t even gotten a first name yet.”

Garnet had to stop her frown from further deepening, instead turning it into a smile as she approached.

“Oh, there you are Michael! I’ve been looking for you all night!” Garnet faked a tone of familiarity as she approached and tossed out a random name.

Chutz moved away and put on a smile that was straining at the edges.

“Hello there, how are you enjoying the ball?” She clasped her hands behind her back. 

“It’s very entertaining and the food is wonderful! Especially the garlic bread, my compliments to whoever made it.” Garnet fired back as she stood next to the relieved reporter. She noted the politician’s tense body language.

“The best garlic bread is always made with lots of butter!”

Chutz still hadn’t made any move to leave, so the mercenary decided she needed to take the reporter away from the situation.  She turned to face ‘Michael’.

“I finally found that piece of art you had wanted to see in here, would you like to come see it now?”

“You did?” the relief in his voice was palpable.  “Now is as good of a time as any.”

“Yes his shift is almost over,” Chutz butted in.

Garnet faced the creepy woman, forcing herself to keep a pleasant smile on.  “Yes, I am well aware of that. It’s this way,” she directed to Michael.

As they started walking away Chutz called out one more time.

“See you later!” Chutz waved at the reporter.

“Oh thank you!” Garnet intercepted.

The politician’s face soured.

Garnet continued to guide Michael through the crowds, trying to lose Chutz, but the woman was persistently following them at a discreet distance.  It took several sharp turns and a few chatty snobs stopping the senate nominee for them to escape.

“Hey thanks for the help,” the reporter whispered.  “I think we’re in the clear now.”

“No prob, but is it OK if I ask you a couple questions in private?” Garnet almost slapped her face at her wording, she could easily be interpreted as her coming onto him.  “I’m gay, so don’t worry I don’t want to hurt you, I just want to know a little more about what happened back there.”

He looked very hesitant to agree to anything, his face reflecting a struggle and his body language tense.

“Look, it’s nothing, nothing happened, I’m fine,” he brushed off quietly.

The curly haired woman faced him, folding her arms across her chest.  “That wasn’t nothing, if a man was doing that to a woman, he’d be called out for sexual harassment.  Which’s what she was doing to you.”

The reporter glanced around the room, shifting his weight from foot to foot.  “No one is going to care, no one is going to believe it, and nothing’s going to be done about it.  Thank you for stepping in, but I’d rather just forget this ever happened.”

Garnet knew when a battle was lost.  “OK,” she relented. “You take care then and if anyone else tries to bug you just excuse yourself and let them know your friend Estelle is waiting for you.”

“Thanks,” he muttered.

The reporter trudged off without another word, and Garnet watched him leave until he disappeared behind a crowd of people. A sigh left her lips as she rubbed at the bridge of her nose. She wished she could do something else to help the reporter.

_ I can help, by exposing Chutz for what she is. _

The interview gave her a place to start in terms of gathering evidence, if she were look up more interviews then maybe she could compile something for Pearl to use during the debate. She would have to find irrefutable evidence though, not something that could be brushed off by a “She’s just a friendly person”, or “The reporter was enjoying it anyway.” A testimonial of Chutz’s harassment would be gold, and if she got more than one, it was bound to create quite the stir.  The mercenary started a walk back towards the buffet table, intending to make herself seem casual again. Once she was there, she picked up a plate and loaded it with two slices of garlic bread. Garnet was back to her original position, eating and scanning the party for Chutz, but this time she wasn’t looking for the woman but for  _ what _ the woman was doing.

No luck. Garnet finished off her last slice of the bread and set her plate into the bin. She rubbed her eyes. It was getting late. The mercenary resolved to head home for now. She already had a lead that she could report to Pearl about, no need to look for something else. With a nod to the security guard posted at the door, the dark woman headed outside.

Once she was far from the building,Garnet flipped open her purse and fished out her smartphone. Selecting a number from her contacts, Garnet placed the ringing phone to her ear. It rung for ten seconds.

_ ‘ _ Your call has been forwarded to an automatic message-’

Garnet frowned.

_ Really senator? You call me whenever it's convenient, but the moment I call you, you can't answer? _

Garnet dialed the number again and listened for a response, only to have the recording sound again. With a grunt, she went out of the contact app and selected a browser.

“Guess I’ll have to pay a visit,” she muttered as she searched up the location of Pearl’s house.

Luckily, it seemed that senator estates were public knowledge. It took all of ten seconds for her to find the location and input it into a GPS. Once she was done with that, the mercenary called for a taxi.  After a quick explanation of where to go, Garnet relaxed in the backseat of the taxi and, after retrieving her glasses from her purse and putting them on, stared out the window, watching the passing streetlights and buildings.

_ Chutz getting sweet on young males. Somehow, I’m not surprised. _

Now all that was left to see was if they could make something of it.

\--

Contrary to Chutz’s estate, Pearl’s house was nothing remarkable. It was a two-story that was probably built a few decades ago, had white fencing around the yard, and a light blue coat of paint on the walls. The doors were the same color as the walls; Garnet rung the doorbell twice and stepped back, a hand on her hip. For about a minute, she heard no one approach the door, but just as the mercenary was about to pound her fist on the door, it cracked open.

“Who is it?” Pearl’s voice sounded strained, and when Garnet glanced through the gap between the door and the doorway she saw that the politician looked half-asleep.

“Your favorite fuck buddy.” A smirk played on full lips.

“What?  I didn’t call for a prostitute...” Pearl yawned halfway into her sentence, still clearly exhausted and not processing who was at her door.  “Why on Earth would you be here?”

Garnet couldn’t hold back her laugh.  “It’s me, Garnet, but in a nice dress instead of jeans and a shirt.”

Pearl’s light grey eyes widened, before the door slammed shut. A second later it opened fully.

“What. The. Hell. Are. You. Doing. Here?” The politician seethed.

Garnet hummed, smirk not leaving.

“You didn’t answer the phone, so I thought I’d give you a taste of your own medicine and wake you up.” Garnet pushed past Pearl, heading into her house.

Like most fancy, rich houses Garnet’s been in, the front door led to a long entryway instead of a living room. The entryway walls were painted white, and devoid of any pictures. The only thing that stood out was a black stool with a flower pot on it. Garnet whistled.

“Damn, makes me long for a house of my own.” She turned back to face Pearl.

“I didn’t invite you in here!” The politician looked more awake now, more angry, and was still holding the door open.

Garnet found it oddly endearing.

“You might want to close that door hon, don’t want people hearing our prrrivate conversation,” the dark woman purred as she took a step towards the politician.

The door was shut with a firm snap, and a glare was fixed towards Garnet.

“What’s so fucking important that you barged into my home while I was sleeping?”

The mercenary sighed and rolled her covered eyes.  “Well, I just got done with busting a ball, and wanted to let you know as soon as possible of what I discovered.  Buuuutttt you didn’t answer your phone so I located your home and came over.”

Pearl rubbed her face with both of her hands.  “Fine, what did you find out that was sooo crucial that it couldn’t wait until a reasonable hour?”

“It’s only 11pm...on a Friday”

Another glare.

“Anyways-” Garnet drawled “I discovered what we could use to ‘kill’ your opponent.”

“Do tell, I’m on pins and needles,” light grey eyes were rolled.

“Chutz was sexually harassing one of the younger male reporters.”

It took a moment, but Pearl’s face slowly went from not caring to lighting up.  “Really? As in you saw it?”

“Saw it, and stepped in to prevent it from going any further.  If she was bold enough to do it at such a public event, I’m guessing we could easily find more evidence, possibly a testimonial or two.  We stockpile a bunch and then blast the media with it.”

Pearl hummed as she tapped her bottom lip, eyes fixated on the stone  floor. “That could work actually. It might be a little hard at first and neither of us could make the accusations, but if we got enough together and had someone release it, she would lose a lot of backing.  I knew something was off about her,” the last sentence was more or less mumbled.

The politician’s next sentence was cut off as she looked back up at Garnet.  Light grey eyes obviously traveled up her whole body, steadily growing wider as pale cheeks became flushed.

_ Well this is interesting. _

Garnet couldn’t help the smirk that formed on her lips.  She shifted her weight onto one leg and rested a hand on her popped hip.

“I-.....I think this is the best shot we got.  I wasn’t…” Pearl’s eyes traveled south for a moment to Garnet’s hips.  “I wasn’t able to find anything today.”

“Alright,” Garnet quirked her lips downward for a moment “Y’know, this would go faster if we were to work together rather than separately. Time is of the essence, after all.” 

Pearl seemed to consider this for a few seconds, her light grey eyes cast to the tiled floor of the entryway. A few times, those eyes would wander up her legs before quickly returning to their original placement. 

“It would… be optimal.” the pale woman pursed her lips, before returning her gaze to Garnet’s face. “Where do you think we should start?  The sooner we flood the social media platforms the better.”

The mercenary frowned.  “Yeah I already said that, but apparently you didn’t hear.  Were you distracted or something?”

Red blossomed all over the politician’s face.  “I’m still waking up! You caught me in the dead of sleep!”

A large hand was waved in the air, dismissing the counter.  “I figured we could start with looking up old interviews of Chutz with any male reporter and seeing what we can find.  Once we find some that raise a few red flags then we anonymously reach out and contact those reporters, see if we can’t get more details from them.”

“OK, are we doing this at my place or yours?”

Thick lips curled up into a smirk.  “Yours obviously,” Garnet stated as she folded her arms under her chest.  “But we can always head back to mine afterwards.”

Light grey eyes just stared at her in confusion for a moment before they widened.  “That’s…not...what I meant…” came the groan.

“Whatever, let’s go get busy on your couch,” the mercenary strolled further down the hallway.  “Unless you want to do it in your room,” she tossed over her shoulder.

Garnet didn’t even watch for a response; the hushed “oh my fucking stars…” was enough for her.  Hips were intentionally swayed back and forth as she walked into the living room. It was painfully obvious how distracted Pearl was by her change in attire and Garnet had every intention to fluster the politician as much as possible during her visit.

“I’ll go grab my laptop, did you bring yours?”

“Nope, just came from the ball.  Alls I got is my smartphone, but that will be more than enough for now.”

An unintelligible mumble was let out as Pearl disappeared into the house only to come out a few moments later holding her laptop and a charging cord.  The curly haired woman sat down on the cushy couch, took out her smartphone, and leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees as she began to start her search.  It wasn’t hard to catch the grey eyes wandering to her cleavage. Pearl sat down with a huff on the furthest spot from Garnet, opened up her laptop and powered it on.

“I’m starting with CUM,” the mercenary tossed out.

“Fine I’ll start with Vixen then.” Pearl did a double take, “Wait, don’t you mean CMM?”

“Oh, is it?” A smirk curled on Garnet’s lips as she typed in the web address. “My bad.”

The first half an hour or so they just opened up various interviews with Chutz and a male reporter and scanned through them, trying to find any suspicious movements. Unfortunately, most of the interviews on the various sites were audio-only, but even the select few video interviews they found had nothing creepy or intrusive to note.

Pearl grumbled, “Are you sure about what you saw?  I have yet to find anything.”

“Fuck I know what I saw.” After a pause, an idea popped into her head.  The interview from tonight was sure to be already online. “Let me show you.”  Fingers quickly typed keywords into the search bar and within seconds the desired result came up.  She scooted closer to the pale woman and held out her phone to show the video. “Right here, she’s grabbing his arm, and you can’t even see where her other arm is right now because the camera cuts it off.”

“Garnet, you’re showing me nothing that would get the public riled up. That’s not incriminating.”

“That’s...seriously?!  I fucking saw her sexually assaulting him.  Yeah she didn’t do it on camera because she’s not a complete idiot, but she did go after him later.  We need to find these kinds of small hints and then ask the reporters if anything else happened.”

The politician didn’t look convinced.

“Do you got any better leads?” Garnet all but spat.

With a sigh, Pearl turned back to her computer and began to scroll through the next series of interviews.  The dark woman moved back to her previous spot and continued to do the same.

Ten minutes later Garnet finally spotted some intrusive movements on Chutz’s end while she was answering some questions given by a young reporter, where she reached a hand towards his even after his repeated attempts to swat it away.  The second piece of evidence seemed to reinvigorate Pearl on their plan. Garnet then found the reporter’s name and personal email, and sent him a message, gently probing about his experiences in interviewing Chutz.

_ One lead. _

Pearl found the next one only a few minutes later.  This time Chutz was practically pressed up against his side and was always trying to find ways to lean in closer by moving her head towards the microphone instead of waiting for him to hold it out to her.  Number two was contacted.

Night slowly gave way to early morning as the two worked together.  New instances of Chutz being creepy seemed to get easier and easier to find.  The space between the politician and mercenary disappeared as it was easier to show the other what they found when they didn’t have to reach halfway across the couch.  Pearl laughed more openly at Garnet’s jokes and inappropriate commentary; even to the point of throwing a few back herself. After nearly five hours and over 18 emails sent, the two felt like enough progress was made for them to stop and get some rest.

Long muscular arms were raised to the ceiling as Garnet stretched, letting out a low growl and arching her back.

“I’m going to call it a night, and you probably should too, you got your big important debate today.”

“Ugh...I do, thank the stars it’s not until the evening,” Pearl rubbed her face.

“Yeah, wouldn’t want to have to explain that you’d been up all night with me,” the mercenary added with a smirk.

The thin woman groaned.  “I’ve seriously lost count of how many suggestive things you’ve said tonight.”

“Is the message finally getting through then?”  Garnet shifted so they were closer together; propping her elbow on the back of the couch and turning sideways towards Pearl.

Pearl thickly swallowed.  “What message?”

Eyes were rolled behind their shades.  “Maybe that there’s a reason why I’ve been saying so many suggestive things? You are quite clueless, miss senator.”

“I’m not clueless, I’m just tired that’s all.” Pearl pouted.

“Mm-hm.”

Garnet stood up, being sure to lean forward as she did so.  Light grey eyes fell to her cleavage. Thick lips smirked yet again as she strutted into the kitchen, found two clean cups, and filled them with water.  Messing with Pearl had proven to be quite a lot of fun.

“Here,” she handed one to the pale woman.

“What?”

“You look a little thirsty.”

Pearl raised an eyebrow.

“I beg your pardon?”

Garnet’s lips quirked down into a frown before quickly moving to a lopsided grin. 

_ Note to self, Pearl isn’t very engrained with the ‘times’. _

Pearl was still staring at her with a confused expression, bringing the cup up to her lips to take one tentative sip before lowering it again. Garnet took her seat back next to her and took a large gulp of her own; casually draping an arm behind the politician. Pearl tensed.

“So, future senator, now that we’re done at your place, want to head on over to mine?” 

“I see no reason since we-” Pearl’s eyes widened and shrunk back slightly. “Oh! Er, maybe not-”

She swallowed when Garnet leaned over, giving her yet another full view of the tops of her round breasts.

“Maybe not-?”

“T-today, I have to, er, I have to rest for the debate and get ready for it and-”

Pearl cut off her nervous rambling to stare dead on at the mercenary’s breasts. A wide grin broke across Garnet’s face as she took another sip of water, intentionally letting a droplet run out of the corner of her mouth to slide down her chin. Pearl’s face flushed as the spot of water made its way downwards.

Garnet leaned back and shrugged.

“ Why not?  Get some good rest and relaxation in preparation for your debate ,” Garnet purred before downing the rest of her water and setting it on the coffee table with a ‘thud’. She wiped off her mouth, smearing lipstick along the back of her hand. “I could use some rest too, I want to be able to keep my eyes open for the debate tonight.”

“You’ll be there?” A red eyebrow was raised.

“At home, in bed, watching it on the TV, possibly playing with one of my toys.”

“You own-” Once again, Pearl came to a realization mid-sentence, “Oh, you’re disgusting.”

Garnet chuckled into the politician’s ear.  “I’m disgusting? You’ve been ogling me all night senator, don’t think I haven’t noticed.  Got an itch you need to scratch? Maybe we could help each other out.” 

Somehow, Pearl’s flush deepened even more.

“Just an offer, soon-to-be senator, I don’t need an answer right away.” Garnet leaned back again and stretched out one arm over her head. “I really should be heading home now, though.” She pulled down her shades and leveled the senate nominee with her mismatched eyes. “But you have my number, give me a call when you have your answer.” Garnet set her shades back on her nose and stood from the couch.

She didn’t spare a glance back Pearl’s way as she headed for the entryway of the house.  As Garnet reached for the door, the idea of scratching an itch with the politician didn’t seem like a bad one.  Flirting had gotten her a little riled up and it wouldn’t take too much more to get her ready for some bed bouncing fun.  It was almost enough and the more she thought about it the more pleasing it sounded. Heat burned on her cheeks as she imagined the politician going down on her.  She swiftly opened the door and exited.

 

The door shut with a heavy thud that echoed down the entry hall and into the living room. Pearl found herself grabbing her water cup again and drinking as much of it as she could before using the condensation on the side of the glass to cool down her burning face. A soft groan escaped from her lips as she put the cup down and fell back on the couch, grey eyes staring at the ceiling.

_ Damn that insufferable woman. _

The heavy flirting had excitement dancing through her, dashing away any tiredness she once had before. The images of the mercenary’s figure in her red dress and the generous cleavage it showed flashed over and over in her mind, not allowing her a break. She covered her eyes with a hand. 

“Stars,” she whispered to herself. Her other hand planted itself above her stomach. “Out of all the people who could have answered me on that site, it had to be her.”

She continued to mutter to herself, before she cut herself off in the middle of a rambling to stare ahead of her, out a window that showed the rising sun and her empty driveway. A slight shame filled her as the politician realized how tempting Garnet’s offer was, how tempting it was to grab her phone and call her now.

“I’m better than that,” Pearl lied to herself. 

Her hands played along the hem of her pajama pants.

“And it’s bad business to sleep with someone you’ve hired.” 

A soft sigh left her lips as she pressed her hand in and rested it on top of her panties, she was still glaring out the window.

“Especially with someone with the mindset of a pubescent teenager.”

Her long fingers danced along the sides of her underwear, where the joints of her legs were. She quickly moved her hand back up to rest on her groin again. 

“Who can’t spend a second-”

Her face scrunched as she dipped her pointer fingers into her underwear and found out how wet she really was from that encounter.

“Without making some sort of sex joke,” she finished breathily as her fingers grazed over her clit. She considered getting to work then and there, but instead she dipped down further to rub her labia and along her entrance. 

“I’m far better than indulging myself with that woman.” Pearl brought her slicked fingers up to her clit again, and began to rub. A stifled moan left her as she scooted up to rest her lower back on the arm of her couch. 

“Yeah, I’m sure you are,” Garnet’s voice rumbled next to her ear as she worked on her swollen nub. “But right now you’re super wet for me.” She rubbed up and down, before transitioning into small circles “And I find it hard to believe that you don’t want to indulge.”

Pearl let out a gasp as she felt the pressure of a strong arm wrap around her torso, and suddenly the leather couch arm pressing against her lower back became Garnet’s firm, muscular torso. She grabbed onto that arm as she leaned back further, small gasps leaving her lips as the mercenary stroked her clit. Occasionally those fingers would dip down at her entrance to gather more lubricant for her to use, and to tease inside with a fingertip.

“There’s a lot of high risks involved in indulging in you, no matter how tempting you are.” Pearl’s back arched as she slid down to press her pointer and middle finger inside, the digits sliding in easily.

She wrenched her hand away from Garnet’s arm to grab at her own breast. Her thumb traced her nipple through the cloth of her pajama shirt.

“For instance,” Garnet purred into her ear as she started a slow pace, “I like to keep a certain professional air around me, and fucking one of my clients is wholly unprofessional, maybe even risky if someone who didn’t like me happened to know about our… connection.”

The heel of her palm ground against her clit, fingers pressing in and out, slowly beginning to pick up the pace. Garnet pressed her fingers in to the knuckle, and she curled them inside, rubbing Pearl’s walls. A loud moan escaped from her throat as her hips bucked violently into the air. Her hand left her breast only to shove underneath her shirt to give herself a more intimate touch of skin against skin.

“I also have a reputation to uphold, albeit a small one. Still, it’s a reputation. I’m sure you understand, miss future senator.”

“Pearl,” the pale woman gasped out. “Call me Pearl”

“Pearrrrrl” Garnet purred into her ear.

She began to move her fingers again, faster now, the long digits hitting Pearl in each of her sensitive spots and drawing her closer. The heel of the mercenary’s palm continued to grind, adding more pressure now.

“You like it when I say your name, huh?”

Pearl almost didn’t hear her, she was staring off into space, hips thrusting up as her noises of pleasure left her lips. 

“Pearl?” Garnet purred again. She curled her fingers inside as she said it, and a short cry left the politician.

“ _ Garnet!”  _

“Oooh, I like that.”

Pearl could feel Garnet’s grin against her neck, her fingers resumed the pace set by them before, drawing out to fingertip to sink in to the knuckle. A steady tension filled Pearl’s abdomen. A gasping moan sounded as she writhed against the mercenary, her own hand desperately squeezing her breast and rubbing and pinching the nipple, the sparks of sensitivity shooting straight to her core. Garnet let out a deep hum into her ear.

“Say my name again, love.”

“ _ Garnet~”  _ Pearl squeezed her eyes shut and bucked her hips faster, so close to her climax. Garnet didn’t slow her pace, nor did she let up on the pressure she exerted on the politician’s clit. Another hum.

“Again.”

“ _ G-Garn-”  _

The mercenary curled her fingers again, drawing a loud moan from the politician.

“Come on, say it fully.”

“ _ GARNET!” _

Pearl yelled as she came, insides throbbing and legs shaking. She wrestled her hand from her breast to attempt to grab onto the mercenary’s arm, but all she found was the cloth of her shirt. She gripped that instead.

The fingers in her slowed to a steady pace, the palm against her nub easing off the pressure to help her ride it out. Short gasps and moans sounded through the living room as Pearl nudged her hips against the hand. Her abdomen flexed one last time as her high began to fade, and when she opened her eyes she saw the faint remains of dark spots in her vision and the window showing off her empty driveway.

Panting, Pearl lolled her head back, intending to rest it on Garnet’s shoulder only to find herself falling backwards. She squawked as she scrambled to steady herself, her hands shooting out to plant against her couch. Confused grey eyes glanced around. The living room was as empty as it was before.

A flush spread over her face as she shot her gaze to between her legs, grey eyes widened as Pearl began to process what had occurred.

_ What the fuck? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would totally buy a better statue of myself if i could. Money well spent.


	5. Chutz for Social Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will Garnet's plan work? Read and find out!

            By the time Garnet made it back to her apartment she was 100% done with the dress and heels.  It took all of her strength to not rip the thin fabric off her body and throw it into the trash;  if she were to damage them she would have to pay for the dress and shoes and she didn’t want to have to spend any more money.  So instead she skillfully extracted herself from the expensive cloth. After tossing them onto her bed, she located her receipt and the time she needed to return them by.  Thankfully it wasn’t until 8pm so she had thirteen hours. Garnet quickly got dressed into her usual attire and grabbed a plastic container of pineapple slices from her fridge.  As much as she would like to sleep, she needed to keep working. All of the inquiries that had been sent to the reporters had been made with one of her many non-traceable email accounts.  It had been a couple of hours so there was a chance that there were some replies. The curly haired woman powered on her computer and signed into the email. Garnet held her breath as the screen took its sweet time loading.   Six new messages. All of which had come in within the hour.

_Which means the others should be responding soon_

            The mercenary rubbed her hands together; then opened the first one.  Mismatched eyes quickly scanned over the response. It more or less stated that yes he had interviewed Susannah Chutz and that she wasn’t completely professional in her behavior.  No admittance to anything, yet. Fingers began to dance across the keyboard.

 

            Charles Bugsby,

            I am investigating sexual harassment allegations against Susannah Chutz.  Several voices have already come forward against her and yours was listed as one who might have also been affected by her inappropriate behavior.  If this is so, please add your voice to theirs so she can be stopped and held responsible for her actions.

            Sincerely,

            Estelle Bell

 

            Straightforward and to the point without going too far on a limb by stating that others had already spoken up when they may or may not have.  Time was of the essence and she couldn’t waste it making a perfect response. Garnet pressed on to the next five emails. Each one containing a similar reply.  As she worked through them, two more popped up. The mercenary grinned, this was actually going to work.

            For the next three hours Garnet worked tirelessly on her computer trading emails with the various reporters trying to get details, evidence, names, anything incriminating against Chutz. By the end of the email communication her fingers were aching from all the typing, but the mercenary was beyond satisfied as she leaned back against her chair and laced her fingers behind her head, scanning over the note document she had pulled up. 3 video testimonials, 10 written responses, and only 5 of the victims who didn’t care to respond. It was enough to start the fire, she hoped.

            Garnet reached over to grab the disposable phone from the table, flipping it open and using the text function to send a simple ‘done B)’ to Pearl. The phone’s lid was closed with a ‘click’, and Garnet stood from her chair. She brushed her hands off.

_Job well done._

            She glanced at a wall clock.

_And still a few hours to go for the debate._

            She headed towards the kitchen to grab a bottle of water and to stretch her legs before she sat back down in her chair, pulling up her log of evidence. Now for the video. Garnet opened a video editing software and imported the video testimonials in, cut them down to fit, and inserted subtitles and explanations between the testimonials. After that, she edited in the written testimonials, making sure to add the names where they were needed and to block out the ones that didn’t want to be identified. A few blocks of text explaining the evidence and accusations were added in, before finally Garnet brought the video down to three minutes.  From there she worked to create professional transitions and include catchy but dramatic music into the background. Once she was completely satisfied with the end product, she processed it. The mercenary leaned back and waited as the green bar crawled along in the pop-up box, signaling the progress.

_Might as well find something to do, this will take awhile._

            She settled for getting her exercises in for the day, starting off with 50 handstand push-ups against her bedroom wall before settling into 50 military push-ups, then going for burpees. At the height of each burpee Garnet would take the opportunity to glance over at the computer, checking the progress. At the end of her set of 100 burpees, she rolled over and performed sit-ups until it burned too bad for her to continue.

_147 this time.  Not bad._

            Panting, Garnet pushed herself to her feet and started a set of 200 air squats, eyes kept to the computer screen.

_Only 34%??? You gotta be fucking kidding me…_

            A firm frown settled on her face as she completed her set. Standing up, she wiped her sweaty hands on her shorts and went to go fetch her dumbells from a rack she kept in her closet. Garnet alternated between curling, cross curling, lateral raises, and front raises, standing right in front of her computer so she could keep an eye on the green bar, watching as the video of evidence continued to process. By the time she couldn’t get her arms up anymore, the bar was at 78% and close to an hour had already passed. It was 2pm now, just four short hours before the debate started. Letting out a frustrated growl, she got down to the floor and set herself into a front plank, choosing not to count the seconds in hopes of making the time go by faster. Doing planks with an already tired body was always a challenge, but Garnet liked a challenge.

_No pain no gain.  And I don’t look this good on accident._

            Slowly her body began to quake as she held the position.  Beads of sweat rolled down her face and muscular form. After who knows how long Garnet collapsed to the floor, arms and core having given out.  For a couple minutes she lay there until she was able to stand up on her wobbly feet.

            “98%! Fuck yeah!  Grandma’s making stew tonight!” the mercenary pumped her fist and did a little jig.  “One more set of planks and it will be done.”

            With renewed vigor Garnet got back down on the floor, this time posting on her right elbow holding a rigid line until she collapsed.  The dark woman hopped up onto her feet ready to view a completed video.

            “99%?!?!” Garnet gritted her teeth as she flipped off the computer with both of her hands.  “One last set of planks I guess…”

            The curly haired woman posted on her left elbow and held the form until her body gave out a few minutes later.  Hands gripped the edge of her desk as she pulled herself to her feet so she could view the progress bar for the last time.  A brief flash of confusion cross her face when she couldn’t find the pop-up box, but it was replaced with joy when she spotted the completed file ready to be viewed.

            “FINALLY!”

            Two clicks later her video played back at her.  Seamless perfection. The mercenary hummed as she logged into one of her untraceable throwaway twitter accounts. She clipped the video onto her post and added a variety of hashtags to it.

_#Metoo, #Himtoo, #OurSurvivor, #BackandButterthanEver, #Won’tVoteForTheButterFiend, #SenatorDebate, #Coleman4Senate_

            Garnet added the last one with a smile on her face, clicking the post button and opening a new tab as it processed. She logged into several more of her accounts and retweeted the video tweet along with the hashtags, before finally logging into ‘Estelle Bell’. There, she PM’ed Vixen and CMM and sent the retweeted video along with a quick message about it being an important story about the senator. Afterwards, she retweeted the video to her own account. A smirk appeared on her face as she noticed that the first account she posted to already had a dozen retweets that weren’t her own. She waited a few minutes, before refreshing the page, a wide smile breaking out when she saw the retweet account had climbed into over a hundred.

_The internet works quick._

            Garnet checked on the media accounts, looking at their own feeds and refreshing every few minutes. Nothing. She frowned.

_Hopefully they’ll catch on soon. The media are vultures after all._

            She leaned back and checked the time on her computer. 5:21, almost time for the debate. Garnet shut her laptop and tucked it under her arm, heading into her room. The mercenary kicked the door closed behind her and set the laptop on the bed.

_Now what did I say I was going to do? Lay in bed in my pajamas, playing with one of my toys?_

            A grin split across her face as she eyed her top drawer. Hurriedly, she shrugged off her sweat-soaked shirt and removed her shorts so she was only in her boxer briefs and sports bra. Climbing into the bed, she switched on her TV, set the channel, and reached into her top drawer.

_Now where is it? Ah! There you are! I missed you._

            Garnet tugged out a pink stuffed frog, setting it at her side. She reached in again and brought out an identical blue one. Letting out a satisfied sigh, she settled into her bed, both stuffed frogs tucked under her muscular arms. She brought her hand up and plucked off her glasses, setting them aside. Her smile never quite leaving her face, Garnet watched the commercials on the channel, waiting for the debate to come on.

_Time to watch Chutz die._

            --

            Long pale fingers reached up to adjust the tie wrapped around her throat.  Hands then reached down to straighten her suit jacket and brush off some invisible fuzz that was sure to have been lingering on her.  Pearl stood in the shadows of the curtains framing the stage where the debate was about to commence. After her personal time, the politician had slept for several hours, then had done nothing but prepare her points and counters for the questions that were sure to come up.  That and eat some food so she would have the energy she needed. She had to perform in this debate like it was the only thing that would get her the public's vote. Relying on Garnet’s idea to get her the seat was not smart; she needed to earn the right to be the elected official.  As such she had made sure to stay off any social media, the last thing she needed right now was to get distracted.

            Across the stage light grey eyes spotted her opponent standing in the shadows waiting for her name to be announced.  The older woman with shoulder length, curly brown hair was wearing her usual pale yellow dress suit and skirt with two-inch high heels, and her glittering pearl necklace.  Pearl swallowed thickly at the sight of the piece of jewelry, she swore she only saw Susannah wear that around her. Small lines of grey could be seen poking out of Susannah’s roots.  Green eyes met light grey ones. A sickly sweet, wide smile appeared on representative Chutz’ lips. Pearl rolled her shoulders back and held the eye contact. There was no way she was going to back down.

            “Now presenting your senate nominees.  First, please welcome the senate nominee from the democratic party, Susannah Chutz!”

            Cheers rang out from the crowds, cameras flashing all over the place as the woman made her way to her podium, waving and smiling the whole while.

            “Thank you for having me!” Susannah spoke into her microphone.  “We’re back and butter than ever!”

            More cheers.  Pearl rolled her eyes; she couldn’t wait for when she didn’t have to hear that slogan all the time.

            “And now for the other senate nominee, also from the democratic party, Pearl Coleman!”

            Clapping and whistles erupted throughout the place.  Pearl couldn’t help the satisfied smile that spread across her face as she walked to her podium waving at the dark audience.

            “It’s great to be here tonight with all of you, thank you!  May we make margarine gains for a better future!”

            The audience cheered at that, and Pearl flashed a smile and side eyed Susannah, who was facing straight ahead, not sparing a look at her. The moderator stood between the podiums, cue cards in hand. A few announcements were made to the audience, all of which Pearl ignored in favor for rehearsing some of her lines and points. She tuned back in when it was time to shake hands, and she stepped forward at the same time Chutz did so. Pearl gripped the other politician’s hand firmly, not breaking eye contact with the woman as they started a stiff shake. She tilted her head down at the shorter woman, and not for the first time Pearl was glad that she was taller than the average woman. They released grips and walked back to their podiums, waiting for the last few announcements to be made before the debate was commenced.

            “Senate nominee Chutz,”

            Pearl breathed out. More time to rehearse her lines.

            “What are your plans for an environmental policy? Are you in favor of more preservation?”

            An absurdly simple question. Pearl watched as Chutz leaned into her mic and began to speak.

            “Well, obviously I love the environment-,” Chutz put her hands up, and the audience chuckled. Pearl resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “I love the trees, the grass, the lakes, and I’m not a fan of urbanization. As a policy goes-”

            Pearl tuned out again. She knew Chutz and how she liked to fluff her speeches to make it seem like she was making a big change when she wasn’t. It was pointless to hear all of it when the answer would be ‘No, I don’t plan on doing shit’ in the end. Besides, Pearl’s research into Chutz told her about the bribes she accepted from big oil and other companies. Not that the public would know of it.

            “Miss Coleman.”

            Pearl perked up, blinking as she looked at the moderator.

            “What are your plans for an environmental policy?”

            Pearl cleared her throat as she leaned into the podium.

            “Well, I’m hoping to help pass laws that give big oil and industrial companies less traction. I plan to push for cleaner energy and better disposals of waste-”

            “Why would you need to dispose of waste if you are pushing for clean energy?” Chutz interrupted. When Pearl looked over at her, she saw that Chutz’s thin lips had drawn up into a smirk. The pale woman’s fingers gripped into the podium and she resisted the urge to sigh heavily.

            “Miss Chutz, I didn’t interrupt you during your time, I ask the same respect.” Pearl leaned back into the mic.

            “Nuclear energy is a clean energy producing method that creates waste, which is why I also plan for better disposals so this output of waste doesn’t negatively impact the environment and people who live near such power plants. As for other methods, I plan-”

            “Lots of ‘plans’ here, do you ‘plan’ to pass these laws or are they just ‘plans’ for now?” Chutz interrupted again. The corner of Pearl’s mouth twitched down and she straightened her posture, leveling the other woman with a narrowed-eyed gaze.

_I plan to break my foot up your ass if you don’t shut the fuck-_

            Pearl halted her thought, interacting with Garnet so much these past few weeks had rubbed off on her.  She cleared her throat.

            “These laws will be put into action as long as I am in office, senate seat or not.  Drafts of the bills I wish to pass in regards to clean energy and waste disposal are already available for the public to view. We need to take the initiative in protecting the planet we live on and reversing the damage already done. It has never been a ‘plan’ of mine; it has been a goal since I first ran for my seat.”

            “You’ve been in office for 12 years and the trees aren’t looking any greener,”

            “Alright!” The moderator called out. “Keep it civil.”

            Chutz’s eyes flickered over to him, and for a moment Pearl saw pure disdain before it turned back into false sweetness.

_How does no one else notice that?!_

            Pearl leaned down again to the mic.

            “Some of my ideas involve allocating space and funds for solar energy farms in the vast spaces of the west that receive tons of sun exposure.  It’s already getting baked each day, why not harness that power? In the same vein there are innumerable spots where wind turbines can be set up.  Not just along the coast, but in gusty mountains and blustery plains. Just one wind turbine can power an entire city with the right amount of air current.”

            “What size of city are we talking about?  Your hometown of 25 people doesn’t really count for a city,” Chutz jabbed.

            The urge to cut back at the infuriating woman filled the redhead, but she was able to withhold the retort by pressing her lips into a thin line and exhaling through her nose.

            “I got a little carried away with my wording, while a huge city could not be powered by one turbine, one with the population of just over 2,000 with the average annual household kilowattage usage being 4,200 could be.”  Pearl paused for a second to let her facts drop the mic for her.

            Chutz closed her mouth.

            “And that’s with the technology we have right now, who knows how much one could do in five years from now if research in this area was encouraged and supported more than it is now.  While we currently rely on oil and gas to fuel our nation, we need to push for a better solution for the future. The oil reserves are drying up and the sun is only getting hotter, so why not use it?”

            The moderator nodded.

            “Thank you, Miss Coleman.” He shuffled a cue card into his hand, glancing it over. “Miss Chutz,” he turned to her, “What are your plans for a drug policy? Do you believe in outlawing or allowing recreational usage?”

            “Well,” Chutz leaned into the microphone. “I’m all for recreational usage in marijuana and less restrictions for opiods,” she started off.

            The audience began to murmur in agreement, one of the members shouting ‘weed!’, inciting a bit of laughter. Chutz smiled, but she waited for the commotion to stop before she continued.

            “I believe that we should look into helping those with addictions rather than demonizing them and filling our already overstuffed jails.”

            More applause and approval came from the audience.  Pearl partially tuned out Chutz as she continued on her drug platform in favor of watching the crowd.  Something was amiss. While it was usual for the screenlight of the occasional cell phone to be standing out, it was becoming more and more common.  Notifications kept on sounding out, agreeable sounds were slowly morphing into lower disgruntled tones. It started like a tiny gurgle, but had quickly grown into a roaring tidal wave.  Chutz had finally taken notice of the shift and had stopped mid-sentence. The moderator called for the audience to quiet down. The butter fiend was about to resume her speech when a young, male reporter stepped forward with his smartphone in his hand.

            “Is this true?” he loudly demanded.

            Security was already closing in on the reporter for stepping out of line.

            “What is it that you are referring to?” she sweetly asked; holding up her hand to security. They paused in their steps.

            “This video of you harassing reporters,” he motioned to his phone.

            “Can someone put it on a big screen or something so I can see?” Chutz called out.

            Pearl kept her mouth shut, 100% content with letting her opponent seek her own demise.  The redhead had seen Garnet’s text, so if the video the reporter was referring to was what the mercenary had been working on, then Chutz was in for a surprise.

            “We can’t do that, please return to answering the questions-”

            The audience began their shouting again, cutting off the moderator, and several phones playing the video were held in the air. Chutz leaned forward on her podium, squinting at one of the closest phones. Slowly, her look went from neutral to horrified, and she jerked back.

            “Is it true?!” the same reporter demanded.

            “Whoever made this obviously has it out for me, paying so many to say such things, where is the proof?” Chutz sputtered, throwing out her arms.

            Pearl placed one of her elbows on the podium and rested her head on her palm, a small smirk quirking up in the corner of her lips before she forced herself to remain neutral again.

            “The proof was right there in their words! You can’t fake groping some guy!”

            “P-paid actors and-and makeup has improved so much you can make yourself look like anybody!”

_Keep digging that grave, Butter Fiend. There’s enough dirt here to go around._

            “You were at Grove City town hall a week ago! I saw that interview with my own eyes!  I saw how she kept on invading his space and touching him!” A woman spoke out.

            Pearl watched as the audience became more and more outraged, voices raising and phone screens lighting up to tweet whatever response they had. Reporters and select members of the audience continued to argue with Chutz, while the woman seemed to be getting more and more flustered with every word.

            “Quiet down! QUIET DOWN!” The moderator yelled, but it was hopeless. Pearl leaned on her podium and into the microphone.

            “For the record, I’m for recreation as well as the release of those-”

            Her voice was drowned out easily by the audience, and Pearl couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face. It was petty, but damn did it feel good. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw more security guards enter the auditorium, no doubt to shut down the debate. When she looked back at the security guards on stage that Chutz stopped before, they had their fingers pressed into their ear-pieces. Pearl hummed and stepped away from her podium, waiting while they received their orders. As she expected, the one of the guards came over to her, while the other went to Chutz.

            “I’m to escort you out, Miss Coleman.”

            Pearl smiled at the guard.

            “Of course, sir.”

            --

 

            “FUCK YEAH!”

            Garnet had long since left the comfort of her bed, glued to the front of her TV once everyone’s phones started to go off. It wasn’t until Chutz and Pearl were being escorted off the stage that she finally pulled away and began to celebrate.

            “FUCK YES!’ She shouted again, doing a running jump and pumping her fist in the air. When she landed, she thrusted her hips up, tucking her elbows close to her.

            “SUCK MY DICK BUTTER TWAT!” the curly haired woman thrusted several more times before taking a break, her body still aching from her vigorous exercise routine. Panting, she leaned up and did a quick whine dance before collapsing onto her bed.

            “Suck it Chutz…” she gasped out. Reaching blindly with her left hand, her fingers dug into something soft and fluffy. Garnet pulled her pink stuffed frog close to her. “I can’t believe that actually worked.” She brought it close to her chest and hugged it, sighing contently. “Where’s your buddy?”

            Garnet reached out one more time to find the blue frog and held it close.  With a lopsided smirk on her face she had the two stuffed frogs kiss before she relaxed further into her mattress.  Exhaustion was settling in full force now, between staying up for over 24 hours, the exercises, and the brief victory dance, all her energy had been spent. Her eyes fluttered closed and she let out a deep breath. It took only a few seconds before she passed out.

 

            Garnet awoke hours later, her room dark save for the glow of her TV’s light. Groggy, the dark woman sat up and rubbed her eyes, mouth stretching open in a yawn.

            “...democratic senate nominee Susannah Chutz...”

            That caught Garnet’s attention. She slapped her cheek twice to wake herself up quicker, an old trick she learned.

            “...is now under investigation in regards to the testimonials brought forward by a video posted on Twitter by NussyMyPussy.  Despite the public’s outcry in light of these allegations, few statements have been made by Susannah Chutz aside from her remarks at the debate last night.  She has stated that she will continue to run for office and that this was just a desperate attempt to discredit her abilities at a key point right before the elections.  However, senate nominee Pearl Coleman has offered her condolences to those who suffered at Chutz’s hands and has stated that such sexual harassment should not be tolerated nor allowed to continue. As for NussyMyPussy...”

            Garnet had to grin at the strain the female reporter was under to keep a straight face while saying her untraceable Twitter name.

            “...no further response has come from them in regards to their video that has captured the nation’s attention.  Hopefully they will provide us with some statement as to why they posted it and what they hoped to accomplish.”

            Mismatched eyes went wide.

            “Oh fuck!” the mercenary jumped for her smartphone sitting on the nightstand.  “It’s probably blown up. Fuuuckkk…..”

            In minutes she was logged in and ambushed from all of the messages, comments, retweets, and more.  Garnet groaned as she flopped onto her bed, trying to come up with a response to all of it.

_No way in hell am I responding to all of these...well maybe some of the more important ones?  No. Just make a fucking post on why I made the video, keep it unprofessional but real. I want them off my ass.  Hey I got 5,862 more followers!_

            Fingers got to work on typing out her response post.  It took a few attempts to get the wording just right, but once it was ready, she posted it.

 

            NussyMyPussy- In response to the video I posted.  I saw something that wasn’t right and when I looked further and discovered what I did, it couldn’t be ignored.  That twat waffle needs to pay for what she did and those victims needed a voice. So boom, video drop. I don’t want such a person representing me in office!

_#Metoo, #Himtoo, #OurSurvivor, #Won’tVoteForTheButterFiend, #Coleman4Senate_

 

            With that done, Garnet logged out of her account and checked on her other ones, especially the Estelle Bell one.  The news stations had finally responded to the PM from Estelle Bell, and Garnet took the time to say “you’re welcome” for drawing their attention to the trending video.  Finally she logged completely out of the app and slouched in her bed. Eyes traveled to the side of her bed where the dress and shoes were.

            “Fuck!”

            The mercenary smacked the back of her head against the wall.

_Forgot to fucking return the dress…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We wish the peoples reaction to the video, and similar types of evidence, was more realistic.


	6. Sealing it with a Kiss?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the debate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, the last chapter! What a wild ride the gain train has been *toots the train horn* Thank you for sticking around through 6 chapters of this craziness! Much appreciated!

**_\---_ **

**_Chapter 6: Sealing it With a Kiss?_ **

**_\---_ **

The warehouse was as dingy and abandoned as the first time Pearl visited it. She didn’t have an ounce of the hurriedness she had before.  In fact, her walk was almost leisurely as she traveled up the stairs and into the designated office Garnet agreed to meet her in. She checked her watch for a split second.

_ 10:23 _

A smirk pulled on her lips as the politician put her arm down and headed inside the office she had found the mercenary in at their initial meeting.

Empty. An eyebrow raised in confusion as Pearl glanced around the small office. Garnet was nowhere to be found. She almost turned and left, but as an afterthought, the pale woman opened up the cabinets to make sure Garnet wasn’t hiding in any of them, because the mercenary seemed like just the type of person to jump out and scare her.

“Where are you?” She muttered under breath.

The pale woman turned on her heel and left the office, glancing around. There were dozens of doors to go through. On a hunch, she went to a middle door and entered in through there. It seemed empty, like the last one, except for the leather chair in the middle of the room.  Pearl eyed it as the chair slowly began to turn.

“Miss Coleman, I have been expecting you…” Garnet said. Her accent was far more exaggerated than normal, and her hand was stroking the top of a stuffed owl’s head.

Pearl let out a groan. “Really?”

The mercenary grinned as she threw the owl off her lap.

“Yep. You’re two minutes late by the way.” She leaned back into her chair, it creaking with her weight.

Anger flashed across Pearl’s face. “You said to meet you by the back office!” The politician threw her hands out.

Garnet’s grin stretched wider. “I changed my mind.” She rolled her head onto her shoulder, popping her neck several times. “Now, about the money… let’s talk.” 

Pearl let out a sigh as she brought out her phone.

“I have it in an offshore account, I just need your details and I can wire it to you.”

“Your account is untraceable?”

“It’s offshore.” Pearl deadpanned. “Is yours?”

“I’m not stupid Pearl. I’m horny twenty-four seven, but not stupid.”

Pearl let out another groan and rolled her eyes. “Your sense of humor makes so much more sense now.”

“So you do find it funny then?” thick lips quirked up into a smirk.

Light grey eyes glared at the dark woman.  Pearl refused to respond to that. “Do you want your money or not?”

“Oh, I want my money. Get over here so we can figure this out. I’ll let you sit on my lap.” 

Once again, Pearl chose not to comment. She simply strode over, turned around, and plopped into the mercenary’s lap. A smirk of her own drew up on her lips when she felt Garnet tense.  Large hands gripped the armrests tightly. When the pale woman looked back she saw that Garnet’s face was flushed dark and her mouth had fallen open. Pearl’s smirk drew up even more.

“Something wrong, Garnet?” She purposefully shifted her ass into her lap “I’m only taking up your offer.”

“I-I, uh, um…” Garnet closed her mouth and cleared her throat. “Wasn’t expecting you to… weigh so much,” she coughed, covering up what she really wanted to say. Pearl turned her head back to the phone.

“Let’s start with your account number, shall we?”

Garnet coughed again, bringing a closed fist to cover her mouth.

“Y-yeah, right, let’s do that.” Her voice began to steady. “My account number is 12185056689.”

“12185056689?”

Garnet nodded. Pearl pursed her lips as she entered it in. The mercenary’s belt buckle was digging into her thigh at an odd angle. Frowning, Pearl leaned back and shifted her hips again, getting into a more comfortable position.

Garnet sucked in a breath.  There was a little bit of an undertone to the sudden intake of air.

_ Was that a moan? _

Pearl had to fight back her grin as she scrolled to the next information box.

“Routing number?”

Garnet gave the desired information, her voice shaky. 

“Bank name?”

Pearl decided to shift back one more time, wanting to pull out as much flustered behavior from Garnet as possible. After enduring endless teasing from the mercenary, this was a sweet revenge.

“I, uh... uh…” Garnet paused in her speech and didn’t say anything for a time. Her fingers drummed against the armrest of the chair. 

“It’s just a bank name, Garnet it’s not that hard to say,” she taunted.

“Swiss Cheese National Bank,” the mercenary cleared her throat.

Pearl nodded as she started to input the info, unconsciously leaning back against the mercenary until her back was flush against her firm torso.

_ This feels a little familiar. _

Pearl’s eyebrows furrowed as she tried to recall it, until the memory came back full blast and turned her face and neck a bright red. Now it was her turn to be flustered. She swallowed as she finished inputting the information and confirming that she was indeed the owner of the account. A pop-up ballooned on her phone’s screen.

[Complete transfer for $50,000?]

Pearl held the phone up to Garnet’s face.

“There’s the money. Make it yours.” Her lips quirked up as she finished her sentence. Garnet sucked in another sharp breath and held her pointer finger up.

“Boop.”

She hit the confirmation button, the phone buffered for a second, and then the transfer completed.

“There, all done.”

Pearl cleared the tab from her phone and shut it off, sitting up straight so she stopped leaning against Garnet. The mercenary must have taken that as her trying to get off, as she tried to stand, succeeding only in pressing her hips up against her ass and unintentionally grinding against her. Garnet immediately sat back down, but the damage was already done. Her face was a full shade darker than her skin, and Pearl’s wasn’t much better, almost as bright as a fresh tomato. They both stared at each other for a long moment.  Chests rising and falling in time to their heavier breathing. Light grey eyes darted to the woman’s inviting lips for a fraction of a second. When her eyes flickered back up she could see the reflection of herself in Garnet’s glasses. For a moment she wished she could see her eyes just to see if Garnet was as tempted as her. 

_ Well, you kind of knew this was coming, didn’t you Coleman? _

Pearl almost chuckled at her inner voice, but she refrained in favor of leaning in forward, not quite closing the gap, but drawing close enough to invite Garnet to close the distance herself. The mercenary’s throat bobbed as she swallowed.

Garnet leaned forward, pressing her lips onto Pearl’s own without a moment of hesitation in between. For a moment the shock made Pearl want to draw away, but she managed to resist enough to kiss back, thin lips moving against Garnet’s. A large hand came up to rest on the back of her head, nudging her closer. Pearl’s own hands fluttered about before tangling into her suit jacket. She wished she turned around beforehand. However, she settled for raising one of her tangled hands up to caress the mercenary's jaw, thumb swiping across it. 

They pulled away after a few more long seconds, panting. Pearl could feel Garnet’s rapid pulse underneath her hand. She twisted around so she could face the other woman, straddling her powerful legs. With a small tug she brought the mercenary close again and engaged her in another kiss. A tongue pressed against her lips, and the politician eagerly opened her mouth to deepen the kiss. At one point Pearl caught Garnet’s tongue between her lips and sucked, drawing a breathy groan from her and a steady roll of the hips under her. A warm hand snuck up from her hips to the small of her back, to underneath her suit jacket. Pearl couldn’t help but smirk at the noise of frustration the dark woman emitted once she realized her dress shirt was tucked into her slacks.

“Do you always have to wear the fancy shit?” She asked once they pulled away.

“I’m starting to think it was the best choice of attire.”

Pearl pressed her hands on Garnet’s abdomen, rubbing up and down, feeling the hard abs underneath the cloth of her shirt. Her fingers found the hem and she began to pull up the shirt, exposing dark skin and defined muscle. The article of clothing was cast aside and Pearl let out a long exhale as she examined the mercenary’s torso.

“Like what you see?” Garnet purred.

Pearl didn’t give her the satisfaction of a nod or a response, she only learned forward to kiss her again and traced her fingers along her stomach.

“Your fingers are fucking cold.”

“Shut up,” Pearl murmured against her lips.

She felt Garnet’s hands drag down from her back to grip at her ass, giving a firm squeeze. Garnet broke the kiss and began to move down, pressing her lips to her neck, sucking and nipping at the flesh. Pearl let out a sigh as her hips rolled forward on their own accord, and Garnet answered her back in kind. Her fingers were still exploring the mercenary’s stomach, but paused as they drew near the dark woman’s chest. Instead they began to move back down to her pants, finding her belt buckle and beginning to undo it. A metallic klink sounded as the barrier was removed.  Strong arms wrapped around her thin body and pulled her flush against Garnet’s torso as their lips were mashed together. Hands continued to work on the button and zipper as she leaned into the passionate kiss. Everything was steadily escalating until suddenly there was a loud creak and the chair they were in began to teeter backwards. Lustful haze gave way to panic as they fell to the floor with a loud crash. Wide, light grey eyes stared into reflective shades, her heart hammering in her chest. Pearl’s hands had braced themselves on either side of Garnet’s shoulders.  Swallowing, the politician moved up until she was sitting on Garnet’s stomach.

“Uh, are you alright?” She cleared her throat and began to get up off the mercenary.

Garnet sat up, shoulders and biceps flexing as she moved to rest herself on the palms of her hands.

“Y-yeah.”

“I, um…” Pearl stood up and stepped away, brushing her pants off and fixing her jacket. “I… That was very inappropriate of m-me.” the politician cleared her throat, pressing her fist against her lips. “The money should be in your account next time you check it. Call me if there are any problems. Otherwise, it was nice working with you, Garnet.” As lust and arousal bled away, Pearl could only find the whole situation now and prior awkward.

Garnet was still sitting in the fallen chair, flushed face a mix between surprise, loss, and disappointment. Slowly, she got to her feet and took a step around the chair so she was in front of Pearl.

“Right, yeah, I’ll check it. It was nice working with you, Pearl.”

The mercenary stuck out her hand and Pearl didn’t hesitate in stepping forward and grasping it, making sure to keep her handshake strong this time as to not get her hand crushed again by the dark woman. Afterwards, they drew their hands away, standing there. Garnet scratched the back of her neck, glancing away, face still dark.

“Oh and I brought the disposable phone with me,” the pale woman quickly changed topics as she dug out the simple device and held it out to Garnet.

The mercenary looked back and a lopsided grin formed on the dark woman’s lips.  “Keep it.”

“What?”

“In case you ever feel like calling me and ‘working’ together again, or maybe finishing what we started here.” She pulled down her glasses and winked at the end of her sentence. It seemed as though to Pearl that the embarrassment was already lost to Garnet. “you and I both know I’ve got more skills than just killing people.”

“Just take your fucking phone back,” Pearl growled.

Garnet chuckled and walked past the politician, completely ignoring the item. She scooped up her shirt, tugged it on, and buckled up her belt.  A hand was raised up in a mock salute. “See you around Senator Coleman.”

For a few seconds Pearl just stood there in complete shock.  The mercenary opened the door to the hallway. Pearl snapped out of it and chased after her, waving the device back and forth.

“Wait!  Don’t you dare dump this on me!” she shouted at the woman briskly walking down the dirty hallways.

“You don’t have to keep it, you can destroy it!” Garnet called back before disappearing.

Pearl let out a frustrated exclamation, before glaring down at the phone in her hand.

\--

A loud bang echoed throughout the apartment as the door was shut firmly behind the woman.  The click of the lock sliding into place came milliseconds later.

“Fuck,” Garnet breathed out as she made a beeline for her bedroom.

Her body was still humming from the short moment she had with Pearl in the warehouse.  Had they not been interrupted by the shift in the gravitational center of the chair, she might have actually gotten some.  Boots were swiftly untied and kicked over by her closet. Hands grabbed the bottom of her shirt and pulled it over her head.  Pants were then shoved down her legs. Garnet’s chest rose and fell with her heavy breaths, she needed to take care of the burning desire between her legs.  The mercenary unceremoniously jumped onto her bed and laid back, fingers moving south to the waistband of her boxer briefs. Mismatched eyes closed behind reflective shades.

“I gave it a second thought,” the familiar voice played in Garnet’s head.

Fingers curled around the elastic band and began to pull the layer of clothing off.  Garnet shifted her hips up to allow it to be removed easily.

“I’m surprised,” the dark woman smirked.  “Thought it was too unprofessional for you.”

A hand ran over taut abdominal muscles, making Garnet sigh and the pulse between her legs increase.

“It still is, but the small taste I got of you wasn’t enough.”

Cool air brushed past her heated and wet core.  Hips rolled as fingers stroked the patch of curls and moved towards the line created by her lower lips.  Garnet spread her legs allowing for better access to her aching center. Her breath hitched as a finger ran over her sensitive nub.

“So you came to get a good lick of me?” thick lips curled upwards into a smirk.

“Oh you only want one good lick?” came Pearl’s tease.

Garnet swallowed heavily.  “Fuck, if you’re going to do that, don’t even bother getting me started.”

A light chuckle.  “Not a chance.”

The dark woman let her head tilt back and rest against the pillow as she continued to run her digits up and down her slit, teasing her opening and clit, becoming wetter with each stroke.

“ _ Mmmmm _ ,” came the pleased sound.

Wet fingers passed over her nub, sending waves of pleasure through her.  Thighs were pushed apart even farther. The mercenary moaned at the loss of contact, but then took a swift intake of air as her clitoris was flicked back and forth.  Hips jerked upwards as Pearl’s face and body between the dark woman’s legs came into view. The familiar pointed nose, short red hair, skinny yet tall stature, and the lidded light grey eyes staring up at her.  A smirk formed on those thin lips as the tongue began to move about with various patterns, each one causing the dark woman to tense and let out tiny gasps.

“ _ Oh…! _ ”

Garnet’s second hand trailed down to her pulsing center.  The politician removed one of her hands from the dark woman’s thighs and pushed two fingers into her all the way to the knuckle without any hesitation.  An undignified moan jumped past Garnet’s lips, her body loving every touch and stroke. Fingers continued to slide in and out of her as the tongue flicked her swollen nub back and forth.  Pleasure washed over her, making her toes curl and her back arch as her hips couldn’t help but rock in time to the pale fingers thrusting deep into her. Closed eyes were scrunched up, she was so close to coming.  Pearl pushed her face into Garnet’s crotch, lips wrapping around her clit as her tongue kept up its sweet torture. A third finger was added.

“ _ Ah!  AH! _ ”

There was no stopping now, Garnet was there right on the edge.  Just then all contact was removed.

“What?” Garnet whimpered.

“What?” the politician played innocent.  “I’m just here for one good lick, right?”

“Fucking hell Pearl...”  hands grasped fistfuls of her afro.

“You want me to finish you?”

“Fuck yes,” came the groan.

“Beg for it.”

One finger was brought back down to idly caress her center, occasionally pressing against her clitoris.  At first Garnet tried to just roll her hips and gain more friction, but it was pulled away.

“Please…”

“Please what?”

“Please fucking take me, shit…”

“Now that wasn’t so hard,” Pearl triumphantly smiled as she moved back in.

Garnet’s hands moved back south as she envisioned the politician’s fingers and tongue pleasuring all of her sweet spots.  It didn’t take too long before her ebbing orgasm was brought back to front and center. Tension steadily built in her lower abdomen making Garnet moan and groan uncontrollably.  Any moment now. Pearl’s movements were sped up until the orgasm burst through the dark woman’s body, making her throw her head back and cry out silently. For several long moments she laid there limply against the bed as the last pieces of her high were rubbed out by frantic fingers.  Mismatched eyes were slowly opened. Garnet let out a heavy breath as she gazed down at her own fingers coated in her slick. The image and phantom feeling of Pearl going down on her was seared into her mind.

“Oh fuck...” Garnet muttered under her breath.

\--

“The votes are in and the ballots are closed…”

Pearl sucked in a breath, rocking on her heels. Chutz was in the far corner, the politician wasn’t sure whether she was sulking or basking in an imaginary victory. She glanced out to the center of the stage, seeing that the votes were still being counted up. She sat back, shut her eyes, and began to pray to the stars that Garnet’s plan had worked and that she had her seat.

_ I should have paid her afterwards, stars if this fails I’ll be out a seat and 50,000 dollars and despite what most people think there is no WAY I can make that back in a reasonable amount of time and I should have promoted more and done more speeches and I should have- _

“...Coleman- 10,917,500.”

Pearl’s train of thought ceased, and she looked around, trying to catch whether or not she won by the expression of Chutz’s face. It was impassive. 

“... Chutz- 8,932,500. It is unanimous. Coleman is our elected official for the house of senate.”

Pearl didn’t know if she imagined that, much like how Chutz was probably imagining her own version of a victory, but when she glanced back at the woman her face was a cross between pure rage and sadness. Pearl looked back, light grey eyes widened, staring out into the crowd in front of the stage. They were cheering, yelling, chanting, all in a mix that Pearl couldn’t quite believe was happening. Her hands trembled against her podium.

_ I won. _

Pearl’s eyes widened even more and her lips stretched into a grin.

_ I WON! _

She would have done a jig if not in the presence of millions of people and being broadcasted nationwide. She looked around excitedly and realized that the announcers were still talking, but they hadn’t called her up to speak yet. Still, she rocked back and forth in anticipation.

“...And now, you’ll hear from our newly-elected senator, Pearl Coleman.”

Pearl stifled her grin, and forced herself to remain composed as she stepped away from her own podium to head to the center of the stage.

A long pale finger tapped the mic twice, and Pearl leaned in to deliver her acceptance speech.

\--

Garnet wiped her fingers on a napkin at her side and set her bag of snap peas aside, a smirk spreading across her lips as she leaned back on her couch, watching as Pearl delivered her speech to the crowd before her. Her left hand was fiddling with the remote, while the other was pressed down on her thigh. She waited while the politician spoke, listening to every word but only considering a few of them.

“-Thank you.”

The crowd began to cheer again, and the TV switched a camera angle back to the announcers. Her smirk still plastered on her face, Garnet leaned back further, straightened out her arm, brought her hand to her forehead, and flicked it out in a military salute.

_ Here’s to lookin’ at you Coleman. _

 

**_THE END_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE END! Thank you all so much for reading! And a big Thank you to the TheTruthHertz for being willing to collab with me! I had a lot of fun making this and sharing the most outlandish ideas with you (like the butter statue. I'll forever thank you for letting me write that.). Another thank you goes to Unrequited, who read through this mess of sex jokes, nut busting, butter fetishism, and political corruption and helped us make it readable! Much obliged!
> 
> TheTruthHertz: Thank you all as well for joining us on this wild hilarious ride!(that originally was supposed to be just a one-shot of 5,000-10,000 words...LOL) It was a super fun project and I'm glad it turned out the way it did. Thank you Tank for collaborating with me and rolling with my jokes! As always many thanks goes to Unrequited, their suggestions really helped to change this story for the better. Thanks again to you all who read and enjoyed!!

**Author's Note:**

> A ginormous thanks goes to Unrequited for all the time and energy they spent beta reading this crazy story and working with both of us. THANK YOU!!


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